Madison shuts out Drexel

Yellow cards abound in conference win

By James Irwin, senior writer

By the time the paramedics arrived, a physical game had already turned ugly.

Six yellow cards. Three game-ending injuries. And sandwiched in between a 2-0 JMU win over Drexel University that vaulted the Dukes into a three-way tie for second place in the Colonial Athletic Association.

“We knew it was going to be a physical game,” junior midfielder Kurt Morsink said. “It was a tough game at their place last year and we knew we were going to be in for a battle. We got the win and the three points, and that’s all that matters.”

But it was hard not to focus on the physical play. Staked to an early 1-0 lead after senior defensive back Danny Sheridan’s header in the game’s fourth minute, the Dukes kept applying pressure — firing off eight shots in the first half — but went into halftime nursing a 1-0 lead.

“We played well enough in the first half to put the game away,” JMU coach Tom Martin said. “We just weren’t able to finish our opportunities.”

JMU finally broke through with an insurance goal on Morsink’s penalty kick at the 66:16 mark. Then things got rough.

“They decided not to drop back but to be aggressive,” Martin said. “The game goes on; it becomes more physical. They’re knocking us off our game and we didn’t handle it well in terms of composure.”

Not three minutes after Morsink’s goal, sophomore forward Lasse Kokko drove hard toward the goal and collided with Drexel goalkeeper Nick Macri in front of the net. Kokko received a yellow card. Macri received a concussion.

“We’re hoping it’s very mild,” Drexel coach Lew Meehl said. “For whatever reason, when these two teams get together, things tend to be physical. We’ve had serious injuries down here before.”

Morsink followed Kokko’s yellow card with one of his own at the 75-minute mark. Senior defensive back Sean Young ended Drexel midfielder Tim Mochan’s night with a hard slide tackle less than a minute later.

“It became a pretty ugly game in the pure soccer sense,” Martin said. “We’re the fourth-ranked conference in men’s soccer out of 28. You’ve just got to grind it out. Hopefully the win didn’t come at too big a cost.”

But JMU didn’t emerge unscathed. Sophomore midfielder Tristan Murray went down midway through the second half after a collision and left the field with what Martin thought was a mild concussion. It wasn’t and Murray returned.

Freshman midfielder Esteban Maldonado wasn’t so lucky. With a Drexel assistant coach nearly in uproar over the game’s chaotic second half, Maldonado rounded out the injury list when he went down hard on his right side after taking a slide tackle. Maldonado lay motionless on the ground for several minutes with a dislocated shoulder.

That’s when the ambulance showed up.

“He’s had a history of that,” Martin said. “He’ll probably be out a couple of weeks, in all likelihood.”

Lost in the shuffle of injuries was JMU’s third consecutive shutout win and fourth in five games. Sheridan, in addition to scoring the game’s first goal, played all 90 minutes. The Dukes allowed eight shots all game and junior goalkeeper Kevin Trapp was forced to make only two saves.

“We’ve all been playing together for a while,” Sheridan said. “It’s a matter of pride and determination. The defense isn’t just the back four and the keeper.”

But Martin disagreed.

“All credit to the back four,” Martin said. “When we say Kevin Trapp was steady but didn’t have to make a big-time save, that’s all credit to the guys in front of him.”

Still, when it was over, the focus shifted back to a game that could have gotten out of hand.

“You can’t just come out and say negative things toward your opponent and coaches,” Meehl said. “But at the same time, there’s a degree of physicality here that in most games doesn’t exist.”