JMU, NU Advance To CAA Men's Soccer Semifinals
Rob Washburn
Road teams won both games in the quarterfinals of the CAA Men's Soccer Championship on Saturday night as sixth-seeded James Madison topped No. 3 Hofstra 2-0 and No. 5 Northeastern defeated No. 4 Elon 2-0. The Dukes will face second-seeded UNCW in the semifinals at 4 p.m. on Friday, while the Huskies will meet top-seeded Delaware at 7 p.m. in Newark, Del.
James Madison 2, Hofstra 0
Boxscore
HEMPSTEAD – N.Y. – The sixth-seeded James Madison men's soccer team knocked off third-seeded Hofstra 2-0 on the road Saturday night at Hofstra Soccer Stadium to advance to the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament Semifinals next week against No. 2 UNCW.
JMU moved to 8-7-4 on the year, moving to the CAA Semifinals for the first time since the 2012 season and will play the Seahawks at 4 p.m. on Nov. 14 in Newark, Delaware. During the regular season, JMU and UNCW battled to a 1-1 draw at University Park.
The Dukes got on the board after weathering a storm of Hofstra attacking sequences in the 35th minute when senior forward
Josh Grant put the Dukes up 1-0 on a header off a cross from redshirt-sophomore
Connor Coward. Coward played his cross into the box from the right corner and Grant put it home from seven yards out.
JMU doubled its advantage in the 64th minute when Coward created a chance at midfield from nothing with a great hustle play to push the ball forward. Coward then beat his defender and created a breakaway that put him one-on-one with goalkeeper Patric Pray. Coward took two touches and fired from just inside the top of the box, beating Pray to the left.
Madison put in a third goal with 11 minutes to play when Grant put a rebound attempt home, but it was ruled offsides to keep the match 2-0 in favor of JMU.
After mustering just two shots in the first half, the Pride (10-6-3) mounted an attack on the JMU goal in the second half but the Dukes and redshirt-sophomore goalkeeper
Kyle Morton kept Hofstra at bay for the seventh shutout of the season.
Hofstra's best chance to score came late in the second half with 3 minutes to play when Joseph Holland took a free kick from 25 yards out that arced over the JMU wall and was headed for the upper-left corner of the goal. Morton made an acrobatic, diving save to knock the ball aside, then stopped a second shot and fell on the ball to keep the score 2-0.
Overall, JMU outshot Hofstra 15-13. The Dukes outshot the Pride 8-2 in the first half, but Hofstra put a lot of pressure on the JMU goal in the second half by taking 11 shots in the frame. Of JMU's 15 shots, seven went on target while five of Hofstra's shots were put on goal.
Northeastern 2, Elon 0
Boxscore
ELON, N.C. – After suffering a 5-0 defeat to Elon during the regular season, the Northeastern men's soccer team was able to bounce back and knock out the Phoenix, 2-0, in the CAA quarterfinals on Saturday night.
Freshman
Frantzdy Pierrot recorded three of the Huskies' seven shots in the match, and was credited with an assist after heading a ball to teammate
Ackim Mpofu in the middle of the box early in the first half.
Brad Fountain scored his fifth goal of the season for Northeastern, as head coach
Brian Ainscough's team advanced to the CAA semifinals for the second time in the last three seasons.
Elon (9-6-4) took 18 shots in the match and 13 during the second half alone, but only managed to register five shots on goal. Junior goalkeeper
Dylan Faber tallied four saves on the night, and made several diving stops throughout the match to preserve the Huskies' fifth shutout of the year.
Northeastern (8-10-1) was flagged for aggressive play right from the start of the first half, as the Huskies committed six fouls in the opening ten minutes of the match. Pierrot was shown a yellow card in the 11th minute, but NU was quick to reclaim possession and push the ball upfield, ultimately winning a corner.
Daniel Arvidsson proceeded to cross the ball into the box, and Pierrot scoped it out before heading it to Mpofu to put the Huskies up 1-0 in the 12th minute.
Even with a one-goal lead, Northeastern did not back off its intensity. By the 25th minute, the Huskies had accumulated 13 fouls to Elon's four, and earned a team save after
Nick Goo helped break up a shot by Phoenix midfielder Luis Argudo.
After Pierrot missed a shot wide left off a corner from Donovan Fayd in the 28th minute, Elon began to penetrate the Huskies' defensive line, but could not find an equalizer after misfiring on two straight shots. A costly turnover at midfield by the Phoenix gave the Huskies a four-on-three counter attack, and NU capitalized with the extra man as Greenblatt found Fountain who drilled a shot past the keeper to extend Northeastern's lead to 2-0.
Two of Elon's six corners in the match came in the opening minutes of the second half, but the Northeastern defense prevented the Phoenix from registering a single shot. Elon forward Chad Craig booted a shot at Faber in the 63rd minute, but the NU keeper captured the ball to keep the Phoenix off the scoreboard once again.
Within a ten-minute window in the second half, the Husky defensive unit broke up eight shots, while Faber saved two shots on goal. Elon had three more chances in the final ten minutes to knot up the score, but it was to no avail, as the Huskies completed the shutout victory.
"It was a tremendous team effort tonight and I am very proud of our squad," said Ainscough. "The team has grown up every day this season, and tonight it showed from Dylan in the goal all the way out to Frantzdy up front. We are looking forward to playing a strong Delaware team next weekend in a rematch of last season's quarterfinal game."