James Madison men play American to draw

HARRISONBURG, Va., Sept. 30, 2009 -- James Madison and American battled to a 1-1 double overtime tie in men's soccer Wednesday evening at the JMU Soccer Complex.

JMU's record now stands at 5-1-1 while American's record is 4-3-1.  The Dukes are unbeaten (5-0-1) over their last six matches while the Eagles have a three-game unbeaten streak (2-0-1).

The Dukes got on the scoreboard just 5:02 into the match with the team's first attempt of the night.  Junior Kieran Rice (Burke, Va./Gonzaga) blasted a shot from the edge of the box into the left corner of the goal.  The play started with a deep pass from junior CJ Sapong (Manassas, Va./Forest Park) to freshman Paul Wyatt (Modbury, England! ! /Ivybridge).  Wyatt sent the ball ahead to Rice, who one-timed the shot into the net.

American's tying score came from senior Nidhal Charfi (Alexandria, Va./Edison) in the 71st minute.  Junior Daniel Shannon (Frederick, Md./Tuscarora) sent a ball into the box on the left side and Charfi angled a shot to the far post from 12 yards out.

Outside of the two scores neither team had any other legitimate scoring chances in regulation play.

In overtime, JMU out-shot American 6-3.  Only two of the Dukes' six attempts were on goal, while only one of American's shots in overtime was on goal.

Midway through the first 10-minute overtime, AU sophomore goalkeeper Matt Makowski (Quakertown, Pa./Faith Christian Academy) made a save on a long free kick by senior Joel Senior (Kingston, Jamaica/Archbishop Carroll).

Halfway through the second overtime, Dukes' junior goalkeeper Ken Manahan (Fredericksburg, Va./Chancellor) stopped a long-range shot by senior Colin Zizzi (Carlisle, Pa./Carlisle).

With under four minutes to play in the second overtime, a shot by Rice was cleared from in front of the goal by AU redshirt senior Cooper Bryant (Niederhausen-Oberseelbach, Germany/General HH Arnold American).

Makowski tipped a shot by redshirt junior Patrick Stevens (Centreville, Va./Centreville) away in the final minute of the overtime.

For the match JMU held a 16-12 shot advantage.  Makowski finished with three saves and Manahan with one.

AU was the first opponent to score on the Dukes since a season-opening 2-0 loss at Duke on Sept. 1.  JMU extended its stretch of scoreless minutes to 527:30 before the Eagles scored in tonight's match.