Posted on October 25, 2007
James Madison lost its first Colonial Athletic Association game Sunday against Northeastern, a team tied for last place in the conference. The silver lining? Madison (13-2-1 overall, 6-1-1 in the CAA) still sits in a tie for first place in the CAA with William and Mary and holds the tiebreaker. Meanwhile, the conference loss is stirring a team hungry for its first CAA championship since 2002.
“We have to be better defensively — not just in the back, our midfield defense has to pick up, and our offense sputtered against Northeastern,” JMU coach Dave Lombardo said. “We’re in a race, and our goal is for first place — to be able to get the number one seed and a bye.”
Last year, Madison made its conference tournament as the sixth seed, the last team to qualify. The Dukes won their first two games in the tourney and advanced to the championship game before losing in sudden-death overtime to Old Dominion.
When the Dukes defeated ODU 4-2 on Oct. 14, they extended their home record to 10-0 in 2007. Friday is Senior Night, the last home game for the Dukes, and former JMU assistant coach Greg Paynter will be standing on the opposite sideline coaching for Towson (9-5-1, 3-4-1). Paynter coached Madison for eight years before taking the head coaching job at Towson earlier this year.
“It is the last game we’ll ever play at JMU, so we’re fired up [and] ready to go,” senior forward Annie Lowry said. “We’re trying to keep our unbeaten streak at home … I told [Paynter] that it’s my last game on this field and I’m not going to be satisfied with less than three goals, so we’ll see what happens.”
Lowry has seven goals this season and is tied for eighth on Madison’s career list with 26. Freshman forward Cate Tisinger has eight goals to lead JMU and all CAA freshmen. Her three goals in the final 15 minutes against Old Dominion propelled Madison to a 4-2 victory against the defending CAA champions. JMU’s talented freshman class has revitalized the Dukes this year.
“Last year there were a lot of injuries [and] there were a lot of confidence issues too, putting people in different positions and things like that,” senior defender Shannon Seipp said. “This year, we’ve [similarly] had lots of injuries but our team has so much depth; once somebody comes out, there’s always somebody else to come in and do a good job.”
Depth has allowed Madison to succeed in spite of injuries, especially at goalkeeper. Redshirt freshman goalie Stephanie Poucher was forced into the starting role after sophomores Diane Wszalek and Missy Reimert suffered season-ending ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tears, and Poucher has notched two shutouts in four games so far.
“A lot of teams would be devastated if they lost two of their keepers, but she’s the same caliber as our starting keepers,” Lowry said of Poucher. “She had a game-changing save against Hofstra, a kick save that was just tremendous, so we’re very happy with her play.”
Madison defeated Hofstra for its sixth CAA victory in as many tries before losing to Northeastern. The Dukes will defend their unblemished home record against a Towson team tied for sixth place in the CAA. Against a coach many JMU players know well, don’t expect them to hold back.
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