BLACKSBURG – The Virginia Tech men's soccer team was looking to host the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament, but red-hot James Madison took advantage of an early own-goal and scored two in the second half as they earned a 3-0 win at Thompson Field.
Tech (11-7-3) was on the front foot, but James Madison (15-4-3) was the first to get on the board as senior Rory Slevin and goalie Mathijs Swaneveld both attempted to clear a ball inside the box, a result that ended with the ball popping up in the air and rolling into the net for an own-goal.
Carson Jeffris extended the lead for the Dukes in the 50th minute as a bad pass saw him with a two on one opportunity against Swaneveld that he took full advantage of as he was able to fake a pass that saw an empty net ahead of him.
Yannick Franz scored the goal that put the game out of reach eight minutes later as he took a place kick from just outside the top right of the box and curled it into the back of the net for his first goal of the season.
The Hokies made their third-straight appearance in the NCAA tournament, making it to at least the second round in each year. The last time Tech advanced outside of the second round was in 2016 when they fell 2-0 to Wake Forest in the quarterfinals.
(11/25/2018) 2018 MEN'S SOCCER THIRD ROUND MATCH
OF NOTE
- This was the 27th overall meeting between Tech and JMU with the Dukes holding a 21-4-2 all-time lead.
- In the NCAA tournament, the Hokies are 5-2 at home and have an overall record of 9-7.
- Kristo Strickler lead all Hokies this season with 10 goals, while Swaneveld, who started in every game, collected 95 saves on the season.
- Will Mejia, James Kasak, Swaneveld and Strickler were the only Hokies to start in all 21 matches.