PHILADELPHIA, PA. 4/12/2019 – The defending national champion James Madison Dukes, ranked 11th in the nation, started strong and came away with a 19 – 9 win over the Drexel Dragons at Vidas Field.
With the Dragons leading 2 – 1 at the 23:20 mark, the Dukes took control of the game scoring 6 goals over the next four minutes and never looked back.
Draw Controls determine who gets the ball on offense. James Madison dominated that statistic getting 21 to 8 for Drexel. During the first half JMU had a 16 – 4 edge. Dukes attacker Maddie McDaniel won a game-high 10 draw controls. It took nearly 10 minutes of play for the hosts to win a draw control. Dragons sophomore midfielder Karson Harris won at least 8 draws over the last four games. In this game she won 5.
The JMU offense was efficient scoring 19 goals on 30 shots for 63.3%.
Drexel had 22 shots getting a goal 41% of the time, but they did not have the ball enough to get into contention. To add to the DU disadvantage, the rains came in the second half to deteriorate conditions as time went on.
Sophomore attacker Colleen Grady led the Dragons with 4 goals and an assist. She has a team-leading 29 goals and 44 points. Junior attack Courtney Dietzel scored twice.Caroline Cummings, Claire Jarema, and Harris tallied a goal.
James Madison was led by Kelsey Reed who netted four on the evening. Logan Brennan, who also had a team-best 2 assists, and Rachel Matey each had a hat trick. Freshman Ava Frantz, a Moorestown, NJ resident, scored her first collegiate goal at 21:20 of the first half.
JMU, who owns a 19 – 0 series advantage against DU, are 3 – 0 in the CAA and will retain at least a tie for first place in conference. Overall, the Dukes are 11 – 3. Their only losses came to teams that are to teams in the top eight nationally.
Drexel falls to 6 – 7 and are 1 – 2 in league play. The top four teams go to the CAA Conference Tournament. The Dragons started out in a tie for third place. Despite the loss they are still in the mix, and have a key game next Friday hosting the rival Blue Hens of Delaware.
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com
Be the first to comment