Dukes Defeat Towson, 2-1, In Conference Opener

Friday, September 25

Harrisonburg, Va.

7 p.m.

James Madison University

7-4-0

Towson

6-3-2

Towson

James Madison

9/25/2015 9:15:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va. - Two goals over a one-minute, 38-second span lifted the James Madison women's soccer team to a 2-1 victory over Towson in the Colonial Athletic Association opener on a rainy Friday night at University Park.

Towson (6-3-2) led the first half in shots 6-4, with four of those shots forcing senior goalkeeper Ellen Forrest to make a save. The Dukes flipped the script after the intermission, however, as they doubled the Tigers' shot output, 8-4, in the second half.

Looking to break the scoreless tie in the 53rd minute, junior forward Ashley Herndon found space and fired from distance to put the Dukes (7-4-0) ahead at 1-0. Junior midfielder Sydney Braun-McLeod made a strong run down the left side and sent a cross into the box for Herndon, who collected the ball, took a touch without a defender and slotted her shot into the bottom left corner of the net.

In the 55th minute, senior midfielder Kelly Kerrigan charged up the center of the field, played a through ball to junior midfielder Allie Bunner and watched as Bunner put the Dukes up 2-0 with a right-footed shot.

The Tigers kept pushing and responded in the 78th minute. Towson forward Natalia Pinkney collected a pass, dribbled past two defenders into the box and hit a right-footed shot of her own to bring the Tigers within one. The Dukes' defense, however, held strong over for the final 12 minutes to secure the victory.

TWEET OF THE NIGHT

#JMUDukes with the Friday night win hat-trick! ?????? Congrats to @JMUVolleyball, @JMUWSoccer and @JMU_FieldHockey on the wins. #GoDukes
— JMUSports (@JMUSports) September 26, 2015

The win completed the "hat-trick" of wins for James Madison athletics as the field hockey and volleyball programs also came away with a win Friday night.

USUAL SUSPECTS
Continuing their strong play this season, Ashley Herndon and Allie Bunner combined to earn the Dukes their seventh win of the season. Bunner now has six goals in 2015 after having three in her career coming in to the year. Herndon scored her seventh goal on the season, giving her at least one point in 10 of her last 11 games played.

NOTEWORTHY
James Madison has now defeated Towson 14 seasons in a row, dating back to 2002. The two teams played their first head-to-head match on September 25, 2002 and the Dukes have an unblemished 14-0 record over the Tigers exactly 13 years later.

RISING THE RECORD BOARDS
With her goal tonight, Herndon tied Sarah Cebulski for 16^th on the all-time career goals list and overtook Samantha Andersch for 18^th on the all-time career points list in JMU women's soccer history.

COACH'S QUOTE
"The big difference for us [from the first half to second half] was that we started finding width on the field," said head coach David Lombardo. "We started playing down the flanks as we got Alex McGill in and Sydney Braun-McLeod in to really open up the game."

UP NEXT
The Dukes return to action at Delaware on Friday, Oct. 2. The game is currently scheduled for a 7 p.m. start.