- The Tribe enters Saturday's contest with JMU at 3-5 overall and 1-2 in CAA play. W&M suffered a 4-0 setback at ACC foe Wake Forest on Tuesday. The Green and Gold posted its first CAA win of the year over Charleston, 1-0, on Oct. 2. Junior
Diba Nwegbo drew a penalty kick and classmate
Alexander Levengood converted the spot-kick for the second time in two tries this season for the game's lone goal in the 84th minute. The first PK was also drawn by Nwegbo in the Tribe's CAA opener with Northeastern.
- The Dukes enter Saturday's match ranked No. 18 nationally in the United Soccer Coaches poll. JMU is 9-2 overall and 3-0 in CAA play following a 4-0 win over Mount St. Mary's on Wednesday. The Dukes own CAA wins over Charleston (1-0), Delaware (3-0) and Elon (2-0). Luca Erhardt leads JMU with eight goals on the year, while Rodrigo Robles has a team-best seven assists. Martin Leu has started eight matches in goal for JMU and owns a 1.18 GAA to go with 22 saves and four shutouts. As a team, JMU is fourth in the country in shutout %, blanking seven of its 11 opponents.
- JMU leads the all-time series against the Tribe at 28-21-9, including a 14-6-4 mark in Harrisonburg. Last season, the Dukes tallied a 1-0 win over the Tribe in Williamsburg. The last time the teams squared off in Harrisonburg, W&M scored three second-half goals, twice rallying from a goal deficit to knock off the Dukes, 3-2.
Alexander Levengood scored in the 71st minute and
Theo Biddle provided the 88th minute game-winner on a header off a corner kick.
- The Tribe's five losses this season have come to teams with a combined record of 31-11-7 (.704). Two of the five setbacks have come to teams currently in the national rankings. Virginia Tech was No. 9 in the United Soccer Coaches Rankings released on Tuesday, while Hofstra was ranked No. 23 in Top Drawer Soccer's Rankings on Monday.
- Juniors
Alexander Levengood and
Diba Nwegbo lead the Tribe in goals with three apiece. Two of Levengood's three goals have been game-winners, which ranks 44th in the country. For his career, Levengood has scored 13 goals in 31 games.
- In the Tribe's first CAA road match at Hofstra on Sept. 25, Nwegbo scored the fastest goal in both league and school history. Junior
Alfredo Bozalongo sent a long service off the opening kickoff, Nwegbo beat a Pride defender to the ball, touched to the side and volleyed a shot into the left side from 18 yards out. The goal was 12 seconds into the match marking the 19th quickest in NCAA history.
-Senior
John Eberle, Bozalongo and Nwegbo share the team lead with two assists apiece. Nwegbo tallied helpers in wins over St. Francis (PA) and George Washington, while Eberle registered assists against the Colonials and most recently against nationally-ranked Virginia Tech. Bozalongo recorded his second assist of the season at Hofstra, setting up Nwegbo's early goal.
- Junior goalkeeper
Connor Andrews returned to the Tribe lineup for the first time since 2018 and has started four of the Tribe's last five matches. He posted back-to-back matches of six saves against Virginia Tech and at Hofstra and recorded his second career shutout in the league win over Charleston.
- Sophomore goalkeeper
Will Stack started the Tribe's four of the Tribe's seven matches, posting two shutouts. He owns a GAA of a 1.25, which ranks 86th nationally, to go along with a save % of 72.2.
- As a team, the Tribe has placed 34 of their 69 shots on goal. W&M leads the CAA and ranks 19th nationally in shot accuracy at 49.3%. Individually, Nwegbo ranks 18th in the country in shooting accuracy (63.2%) and 43rd in shots on goal per game (1.5).
- Both Levengood and Stack were ranked among the top 20 players in the CAA according to Top Drawer Soccer. Levengood came in ninth, while Stack was one of two goalkeepers on the list and was No. 19.
- With its 1-0 win over George Washington on Sept. 14, the Tribe started the season 2-0 for the first time since 2010. The Green and Gold started shutout its first two opponents of the year marking the first time W&M opened with back-to-back shutouts since 1996.
- For the second time, the Tribe hosted a Lace Up 4 Pediatric Cancer® match partnering with the
Go 4 the Goal Foundation to raise money for pediatric cancer research. During the spring, W&M raised over $3,000 for the Go 4 the Goal Foundation. As part of the match with the Hokies, the Tribe wore gold shoelaces in Lacing Up 4 Pediatric Cancer.
