HARRISONBURG, Va., Oct. 23, 2011 – James Madison eked out a 3-2 win over Old Dominion in Colonial Athletic Association women’s soccer Sunday afternoon at the JMU Soccer Complex.

The Dukes upped their overall record to 8-7-3 and their CAA mark to 5-4-1.  ODU dropped to 6-10-2 overall and 3-6-1 in league play.

With seven total games remaining, the race for the six-team CAA Tournament remains tight. William and Mary has locked up the top spot (9-1, 27 points) and Virginia Commonwealth (5-2-3, 18) has clinched a berth.

Only four points separate the number three through nine teams in the standings.  JMU (5-4-1, 16 points) and Northeastern (5-4-1, 16) are tied for third, followed by George Mason (4-3-3, 15) and Hofstra (5-5, 15), Delaware (4-3-2, 14) and Drexel (4-4-2, 14) and Towson (4-5, 12).  Each of the contending teams has one game remaining except Delaware, which has two games left.

In Sunday's win over ODU, JMU opened up a 3-0 lead midway through the first half and then held on after ODU closed the gap to 3-2 early in the second period.  For the game, the Monarchs out-shot the Dukes 22-12, but only six of ODU's shots were on goal.

Dukes' redshirt senior Jessica Barndt (Novi, Mich./Novi) scored the first goal of the match when she headed a long throw-in from sophomore Becky Sparks (Laurel Springs, N.J./Paul VI) into the goal at the 6:02 mark.

Just 1:38 later JMU sophomore Lauren Wilson (Coatesville, Pa./Downingtown) scored to push the lead to 2-0.  The play began when senior Ariana Ruela (Kearny, N.J./Kearny) sent a pass from the end line to the middle of the field at the edge of the box, where redshirt junior Kelly Germain (McLean, Va./Langley) redirected the ball to the left side of the box.  There Wilson finished the play with a four-yard shot into the left corner.

Wilson scored again at the 23:05 mark on a shot from the top of the box to the left corner of the goal.  Barndt earned an assist with her initial pass to Wilson.

Less than two minutes later, ODU got on the scoreboard when senior Jocelyn Weidner (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) hit a free kick from 40 yards just under the crossbar.

The Monarchs' second goal came 7:40 into the second half.   Senior Victoria Johnson (Norfolk, Va./Granby) received a pass from sophomore Kate Kelly (Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley) in the right side of the box.  Johnson then sent the ball into the far corner of the goal from 16 yards out.

At this point "it's just the surviving and advancing, and we did that today we got the result we needed," said JMU Head Coach Dave Lombardo.   It was "not exactly in the fashion we were hoping for but we got the three points and we will take that with us to Richmond on Friday against VCU."

The Dukes complete regular-season play with their Oct. 28 match at VCU.