No. 15 West Virginia women’s soccer is back on the road after an extensive homestand to face James Madison on Thursday at the Dukes’ Sentara Park. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. ET and it will be shown on FloSports.
West Virginia (4-2-1) is making just its second road appearance of the season after an up-and-down four-game stretch at its Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium. The Mountaineers took two wins against Duquesne and Saint Francis in that span, but struggled against its two ranked opponents in No. 7 Penn State and No. 24 Georgetown. Their win over Saint Francis — a 5-0 rout in which they prevented the Red Flashes from taking a single shot — was the punctuation for the stretch.
WVU will look to take the momentum from that win into its 10th-ever clash with James Madison. The Mountaineers and the Dukes will square off for the first time since 2008, with their last meeting at JMU occurring in 2006. West Virginia has dominated the series, leading 7-1-1.
“It’s been a little while since we played on the road,” said WVU coach Nikki Izzo-Brown. “We’re going to have our hands full against a very good and deep James Madison team. We know that they are going to present us with a few challenges we haven’t seen so far in this nonconference season.”
The Dukes (2-4-1) are coming off their first win in four games, defeating High Point on Sunday, 3-1. They have one mutual opponent — Virginia — who shut both squads down while ranked in the top five.
WVU will bring its stout defense to Harrisonburg, Virginia. Led by the hard-nosed centerback pair of Jordan Brewster and Gabrielle Robinson, the Mountaineers have logged four clean sheets thus far as they hold the second-best defense among Big 12 teams, allowing 0.595 goals per contest.
They will line up against the fourth-strongest attack in the CAA, as the Dukes average 1.714 goals per game. Forward Hannah Coulling leads JMU with three goals, but it has spread its attack out with eight Dukes adding a score in seven games.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. ET and the game will be shown on FloSports.