The Hofstra Pride men’s soccer team dropped their first road game of the season against conference rival James Madison University (JMU) 2-0 on Friday, Sept. 6. This was not only the first conference game of the year for Hofstra, but also a rematch of last year’s Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) title game that saw the Pride fall to the Dukes after the match came down to a penalty shootout.

Hofstra’s first loss on the season moves their record to 2-1 and 0-1 in CAA play. JMU secured their first win on the season to move to 1-2 and 1-0 in their CAA bouts.

Both teams came out of the gate sluggish, as no goals were scored in the first half of play. The Dukes, however, landed three of their shots on goal in the first half while the Pride could not manage any shots on goal throughout the entire contest.  

It was not until the 75th minute that the Pride made a mistake on defense, which allowed JMU’s Clay Obara to dribble into the box and get off a shot that flew into the lower right corner of the goal, giving the Dukes a 1-0 lead in the game. Off a pass from Brandon Clegg, Brennen Burton then added to the tally and knocked in a long distance shot past Hofstra’s defense to make the score 2-0 during the 87th minute of the game.

Hofstra had several good looks at goal but failed to capitalize and come away with an answer for what was being thrown at them in the defensive half. Hofstra graduate goalkeeper Alex Ashton saved five shots on the night, including three pivotal saves in the first half that were key to keeping the Dukes scoreless in the opening 45 minutes.

JMU was the more aggressive team, collecting 15 fouls on the night. Of their nine shots, seven were on goal. Hofstra, meanwhile, totaled seven fouls and of their seven shots, none were on goal.

Hofstra now moves to 12-10-3 all-time against JMU. The Pride will be back in action on Sunday, Sept. 8, when they take on No. 10 Virginia Tech at 4 p.m. in Harrisonburg, VA in the second game of the JMU Invitational.

Image courtesy of Hofstra Athletics