JAMES MADISON FACES TOUGH TEST IN NCAA WOMEN'S SOCCER ROUND OF 16
James Madison travels to #2 seed Portland on Saturday night for the third round of the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship. The match is scheduled for 10 p.m. (EST) with the winner advancing to the quarterfinals against either Stanford or Rutgers.
JMU (14-6-2) posted 1-0 victories over Georgia and #3 seed Wake Forest last weekend in Winston-Salem, N.C. to advance to the round of 16 for the first time since 1996 when the tournament field was only 32 teams. It's the first time in nine NCAA Tournament appearances that the Dukes have won a pair of games and it evened their all-time NCAA record at 8-8. JMU is the first CAA team since William and Mary in 1999 to advance to the third round.
Portland (19-1) is ranked #3 in the nation by the NSCAA and has reeled off 18 straight victories since a loss to #2 UCLA on August 30. The Pilots have participated in 16 of the past 17 NCAA Tournaments and were national champions in 2002 and 2005.
The Dukes are led offensively by junior forward Corky Julien, who earned CAA Player of the Year honors after recording 15 goals and three assists this season. Sophomore midfielder Teresa Rynier has posted a school-record 14 assists, including one on the game-winning goal by Lindsay Bowers last Sunday. Sophomore goalkeeper Diane Wszalek lowered her GAA to 1.04 with the back-to-back shutouts last weekend and has made 88 saves. She stopped a career-high 11 shots in the win over Georgia.
Portland is led by senior midfielder Megan Rapinoe, who was the West Coast Conference Player of the Year, and freshman Danielle Foxhove, who was the WCC Freshman of the Year. The Pilots have only allowed six goals all season and have recorded 14 shutouts.