Hempstead, N.Y. - Hofstra will take an undefeated record
into the start of Colonial Athletic Association play on Saturday when the Pride
plays James Madison at 7 p.m. at University Park in Harrisonburg, Va.
Both teams enter league play with confidence. Hofstra
(4-0-1) is off to the school's best start in 27 years while JMU is coming off a
1-0 victory over defending-national champion North Carolina. The Pride is 3-0-1 away
from home this season while the Dukes (2-2-1) will again be at home after
blanking the No. 1-ranked Tar Heels on Tuesday.
JMU is coming off a tremendous 2011 season in which the team 13-5-2 overall and 8-3-0 in CAA play for a
regular season title. The Dukes advanced to the NCAA Tournament's Round of 16,
though Hofstra played one of its best games of the season against them in the regular
season finale.
The Pride beat JMU, 3-0, in
that contest. Hofstra shut out a Dukes team that was ranked 12th nationally at
the time. Maid Memic and Tyler Botte scored in that contest and both are key
contributors to the Pride in the current season.
Hofstra leads the all-time
series, 8-5-1. The Pride also won the last time they ventured to University
Park, defeating JMU, 2-0, in 2010. The first meeting between the programs was
in 1972, though there was a 23-year gap between games before the series resumed
in 1995. With the teams becoming conference rivals last decade, Hofstra has won
three of the last four meetings.
Botte enters as Hofstra's
hottest scorer. The junior defender has seven points, including three goals and
an assist, in the last two games. The North Babylon, N.Y. native netted his
first career two-goal game to propel the Pride to a 3-2 win at Binghamton last
week. That game marked his first career game-winner.
Fellow junior defender Shaun Foster (Southport, England) has also been solid on the back line while
contributing offense. His first goal of 2012 proved to be the game winner in
Hofstra's 2-1 road win at Albany in the previous game.
Memic (two goals, two
assists) has six points and the sophomore forward trails only Botte and junior forward
Chris Griebsch by one point for the team lead.
Overall, Hofstra is
out-scoring opponents, 10-4. The Pride has also generated 28 corners. That's
one category where JMU has struggled. The Dukes are last in the CAA with just
15 corner kicks through four games.
Hofstra is off to the
program's best start since the 1985 squad started 5-0. With three wins and a
tie through the first four road contests, head coach Richard Nuttall has guided
the squad to the best start on the road in his 24 seasons at the helm.
