2019 Fall Sports
Haven't done one of these so far this year, but with the calendar turning to October and the schedule turning to conference play, let’s quickly recap what our student-athletes are doing. As is traditionally the case, I will not be discussing the football since there are approximately 1,547 threads already devoted to JMU Football.
Men’s Golf – The fall season for golf has just gotten under way and the Dukes have two top 3 finishes so far, including a team win last week at the River Run Collegiate. In addition to the team win, Walker Cress finished first individually, while Ignacio Montero and George Heath finished fourth and fifth, respectively. The Dukes will be in action again starting October 7.
Men’s Soccer – So far, so good for the Dukes. They have won seven in a row heading into Wednesday’s game against #13 CSU-Fullerton. This game is a return leg of last year’s OOC game, which ended in a 1-1 draw. After this, the Dukes will be on the road for CAA and OOC action culminating in an Oct 15 battle against UVA in Charlottesville.
Men’s Tennis – Fall tennis is about Invitationals with the conference schedule taking place in the Spring, but the team has been picking up singles and doubles wins through two Invitationals at Liberty and UNCG. They will be in action again on Oct 11 against Richmond.
Women’s XC – Cross country continued their early season dominance with a win in the Queens City Invitational in Charlotte in 91 degree heat, finishing with three top 8 runners and five in the top 13. They’ll next run at the Penn State Open on Oct 18, where they will hopefully continue their success (and face more comfortable temperatures).
Women’s Field Hockey – The team’s record of 3-6 may not look pretty, but that’s because their schedule has been a gauntlet thus far. So far they have played the following ranked teams: 1, 4, 5, 14, 20, and 22, with games against the current #2 and 12 teams still to play. The only game that wasn’t close was against #1 UNC, who stomp everyone in their way. Hopefully this aggressive schedule benefits the ladies come conference play, which starts Friday at W&M.
Women’s Golf – Competed at the Lady Paladin Invitational at Furman, and finished with their best round in a year. Hopefully, the team can build off and carry that confidence into next week’s tournament in Alabama.
Women’s Soccer – The team has been great at creating chances and pressure, but seems to fall flat when it comes to finishing. As a result, the team has started 0-1-1 in CAA play, and has fallen to 3-8-1 overall after a strong OOC filled with close games against ranked opponents. Sometimes it’s not about talent, but luck, and Lady Luck has not been helpful so far this year. Let’s see if she shows up Sunday when we take on Northeastern.
Women’s Tennis – Got off to a good start in West Virginia with some great individual performances last week, as three players (Michelle Los Arcos, Natalia Nikolopoulou, and Daniela Voloh) went 3-0 in singles play. They will take the court at Northwestern this weekend.
Women’s Volleyball – VB saw their four match win streak ended by Towson this Sunday, but at 8-5 (2-1), there is still a lot of volleyball left in the season for a team with NCAAT hopes and talent. They will look to get back on track this weekend against Delaware on Friday (game on Facebook Live btw).
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