Image courtesy of JMU Athletics Communications

By Bennett Conlin (This content was originally published in our newsletter)

Fast start – Well, that’s one way to phrase opening the game on an 11-0 run. “Dominant” also works. We could’ve worked in “beatdown” somewhere. Regardless of how you want to describe JMU’s start, it was impressive. JMU (8-3) scored the first 11 goals of the game en route to an easy 19-8 win. 

San Diego State is good – Beating the Aztecs by 11 is impressive. Prior to the loss, SDSU was 8-3 with all three of its losses coming by six goals or fewer. The Aztecs aren’t a top-25 team, but they’re good. They aren’t a team that normally loses by 10+ goals. JMU was on a mission after losing its previous two games. 

Everybody gets a goal – In addition to solid defense throughout the game, the offense was rolling. Eleven Dukes found the net in the victory, with Halle Duenkel’s four goals leading the way. 

Up next – The non-conference slate is over. CAA play begins Friday when the Dukes travel to Delaware (5-5). The Blue Hens aren’t great, but they’ve won their past two games by a combined score of 35-17. The CAA schedule won’t be overwhelmingly easy, but the Dukes are clearly the conference’s best team.