JMU Falls 3-0 To UConn In Third Round Of NCAA Men's Soccer Championship
Boxscore
STORRS, Conn., Nov. 27, 2011 – The 24th-ranked James Madison men’s soccer team saw its season come to an end Sunday afternoon, as the Dukes lost 3-0 to No. 5 Connecticut in NCAA round of 16 action at Morrone Stadium.
The Dukes, seeded No. 14 in the 48-team tournament, finished the year with a 13-5-2 record. The No. 3 seeded Huskies improved their record to 19-3-2 and remained unbeaten at home with a 12-0-1 record.
The game was played in front of a crowd of 4,983, just under capacity at the 5,100-seat Morrone Stadium.
UConn took a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute on a breakaway goal by junior Carlos Alvarez. Senior Tony Cascio delivered a pass down the right side to Alvarez, who dribbled into the box and beat redshirt senior goalkeeper Justin Epperson (Herndon, Va./Oakton) one-on-one with a shot from eight yards to the upper part of the far corner.
In the second half the Huskies scored twice in a span of two minutes to take a commanding 3-0 lead.
First, a penalty kick was assessed when sophomore Mamadou Diouf was taken down by a JMU defender in the penalty box. Diouf took the PK, but Epperson stopped the shot. However, Diouf pounced on the rebound and scored at the 62:16 mark.
Just 2:02 later Cascio got the ball on a pass from Alvarez and hit a shot from the left side of the box into the right side of the goal for the Huskies' third goal of the day.
UConn out-shot the Dukes 16-5, and Epperson finished with four saves. JMU freshman Nick Njuki (Gaithersburg, Md./Quince Orchard) also made a defensive save in the late stages of the game on a ball chipped over Epperson by freshman Allando Matheson in the waning minutes.