JMU women’s soccer to play in NCAAs for eighth time in program history
James Madison women’s soccer coach Dave Lombardo scrawled every first-round NCAA tournament matchup on his notepad, and when “James Madison” showed up on the television screen, the private room at Ham’s Restaurant erupted in celebration Monday night.
Madison (16-4-1 overall, 8-2-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association) plays Pennsylvania (13-3-1, 6-1-0) on Friday in Morgantown, W.Va — an all-too familiar setting. The Quakers earned the Ivy League’s automatic bid as conference champions, and West Virginia faces Navy in the other match-up in Morgantown.
“We started our season with a preseason scrimmage at West Virginia,” Lombardo said minutes after the announcement. “We didn’t do that well there. It’s redemption time.”
“ESPNews” announced JMU’s shot at payback after delaying the selection show over 20 minutes, but the team quickly got over the wait. The game against Penn will be a rematch of JMU’s first-round showdown with the Quakers in the 1999 NCAAs. Madison won that game 1-0, but lost in the second round to Virginia 3-1.
Lombardo emphasized the opportune circumstances of JMU’s “second chance” when addressing the team after the selection show.
“It’s daunting when you get placed with a Notre Dame, or a Santa Clara ora North Carolina — we don’t have that in the first round, this is a 50/50 game,” he said.
The NCAA tournament consists of 64 teams, but only the top 16 are seeded. Of those, only 13 are hosting first and second-round competition, due to geographic constraints.
The selection committee selects locations that limit the number of flights for first and second-round matches. WVU is the seeded team in Madison’s four-team region at No. 4.
JMU finished the year in a slump, losing two out of its last three games. The Dukes were knocked out in the semifinals of the CAA tournament by eventual champion Hofstra, one of three CAA teams to qualify for the NCAAs. Hofstra earned the CAA’s automatic bid, while William & Mary received an at-large bid in addition to JMU.
Before the selection show, JMU senior forward Annie Lowry evaluated JMU’s chances and expressed concern.
“Losing in the semifinals, a lot of [teams] don’t get bids to the NCAAs. We saw Navy, I think they had 18 wins last year and didn’t get in.”
But the Dukes did get into the “Big Dance,” and if they capitalize on their favorable matchup they will advance to the round of 32 for the first time since 2002.
JMU athletic director Jeff Bourne congratulated the team on its accomplishment after the announcement, and in an interview described its significance within the context of Madison’s Title IX cuts.
“We’ve refocused and we know literally the programs that we’re gonna walk into the future with,” Bourne said. “Being away from controversy helps us.”
“It was very hard because as an athletic program we knew those coaches and student-athletes that were on the other teams. But we’ve redefined our future and we’re moving forward, and I think these kids have had a great year.”
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