[JAMES MADISON-NORTH CAROLINA] James Madison knocked off No. 2 North Carolina, 1-0, on senior Christian McLaughlin‘spenalty kick in the closing minutes of the first half before a record crowd of 1,531 fans at University Park. It was the first loss of the season for the defending champions.
“It was inessence the perfect storm,” said JMU coach Tom Martin. “We had the right team, we worked our socks off, defended very well, were dangerous where we shouldhave been and we got what we deserved, which is not always the case in soccer.”
The penalty was assessed when UNC defender Jordan McCrary wascalled for a shove on Icelandic freshman Bjarki Aoalsteinsson in the penalty area.
Martin said JMU wanted to play “a lot of possession soccer; wefelt we had a strength there. We wanted to capitalize on re-start dead ball situations; we thought we had a decided advantage there. We pressured the ball in midfield and got aturnover. They fouled us [and] we got a free kick. Bjarki was pushed in the back on his run (and) the referee was in great position and called it, and that was it.”
JMU outshot UNC9-7, to extend its unbeaten steak at home to 14 games, tying a school record.
Sept. 11 in Harrisonburg, Va.
James Madison 1 North Carolina 0. Goal: McLaughlin (pen.) 42.
James Madison — Newcity, Adalsteinsson, Robins-Bailey, Fouhy, Whitebread,Barden, Mashinski, McLaughlin, Simpson, Bastidas, Wyatt. Subs: Schmidt, Reid, Umar.
North Carolina — Goodwin, Campbell, Okwuonu, McCrary, Gafa, Garcia,Valimaa, George, Lopez, Murphy, Craven. Subs: Jabang, Brown, Vandermaas-Peeler, Root, Long, Olofson, Tannous.
Att.: 1,531.