Men’s Soccer Opens Up Season with Win Over Binghamton

Thursday, August 25

Harrisonburg, Va.

7:30 p.m.

James Madison University

1-0-0, 0-0-0

Binghamton

0-1-0, 0-0-0

Binghamton

James Madison

8/26/2022 12:27:00 AM | Men's Soccer

Box Score Photo Gallery

HARRISONBURG, Va. – After going down early, James Madison men's soccer scored three straight goals to take down Binghamton, 3-1, on Thursday afternoon at Sentara Park as part of the Fairfield by Marriott Invitational.

The Dukes begin the season 1-0, while the Bearcats fall to 0-1.

The trio of freshman Cameron Arnold, redshirt sophomore Josiah Blanton and redshirt senior Tyler Clegg all scored for the Dukes, while freshman Sebastian Conlon earned his first career win with five saves in goal.

How It Happened

It was a hard-fought match from the beginning, with JMU getting off the first shot in the fifth minute off the foot of freshman Kevin Larsson.
Binghamton responded with a pair of shots in the sixth minute ten seconds apart, as Anthony Lazaridis' shot was saved by Conlon before rebounding to Ethan Homler who said his shot high.
The defensive battle was fought through the opening 30 minutes as the two teams traded throw ins and corner kicks.
The Bearcats were about to get on the board first in the 34^th minute, sending a shot into the upper right corner of the goal just outside the left side of 18-foot box.
The Dukes would not go into the break down, as Blanton tied the match with 47 seconds left in the half. He would receive the ball and get around a defender inside the box before sending a shot through the Binghamton goalkeeper's legs to knot the match at one.
Binghamton ripped off the first two shots of the second half in the 51^st and 54^th minutes.
After chippy play through the opening part of the second half, a foul on Binghamton set the Dukes up for a free kick 10 yards out from the 18-foot box. Clegg would capitalize by firing a shot off the kick that would deflect off the right post into the back of the net for a 2-1 lead.
The teams continued to battle after the goal, as a total of 14 shots were taken overall in the last 45 minutes.
JMU added an insurance goal in the 89^th minute, as Arnold made a defender stumble before firing the third Duke goal of the night.

Game Notes

The Dukes did not allow a corner kick in the second half.
The three goals are the most scored in a season opener for the Dukes since taking down Gardner-Webb 4-0 to begin the 2018 season.

Quoting Head Coach Paul Zazenski
"It was a tough test. Binghamton was a good team, they came with a great gameplan and certainly gave us all we could handle in the first game of the season. It's always tough to predict that first game as to what your opponent will provide and how your group will step out onto the field, but I think our guys really responded well going down a goal and it was good to see some goals go in the back of the net.

Up Next
JMU will wrap up the Fairfield by Marriott Invitational with a matchup against NJIT on Sunday, Aug. 28. The match will be streamed on ESPN+ and is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Sentara Park.