JMU roundup: JMU football tops Rhode Island

Daily Staff Reports - sports@nvdaily.com

Redshirt-senior quarterback Justin Thorpe had his first career 300-yard passing game to lead James Madison University to a 32-7 victory in their Colonial Athletic Association football opener at Rhode Island. The Dukes are now 3-1 and 1-0 in the CAA, while the Rams fall to 0-3 and 0-2 in league play.

Thorpe had career highs in completions, attempts and yards, going 26-for-40 for 340 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Sophomore wide receiver De'Andre' Smith had a career-high eight receptions for 53 yards and one rushing score, while redshirt-junior receiver Renard Robinson had a career-high 87 yards and one touchdown on three catches.

On its opening possession, JMU moved down the field, starting with a 37-yard completion from Thorpe to redshirt-freshman tight end Derek Hart. Two plays later, Thorpe connected across the middle with redshirt-senior tight end Brian Barlow for a 22-yard touchdown pass. JMU then went for two with an off-set formation, where redshirt-junior Quintin Hunter ran it in to make it 8-0 JMU with just over 11 minutes to go in the first quarter.

Madison had 498 yards of total offense while limiting the Rams to just 183 yards, including 95 yards after URI's first two possessions of the game. JMU converted 11-of-20 third-down opportunities while holding URI to just 1-of-10. The Dukes were also 2-of-3 on fourth-down chances compared to the Rams being unsuccessful on both of theirs.

Hykeem Brodie was the leading ground gainer for the contest with nine carries for 58 yards and one touchdown. Sherando graduate Barlow also had five catches for 62 yards and a score among the receiving leaders for JMU.

Women's soccer
James Madison shut down defending Colonial Athletic Association champion William and Mary in the first half before the Tribe scored twice in the final 20 minutes to post a 2-0 CAA women's soccer win Sunday afternoon at Albert-Daly Field.

The Dukes (3-7-0, 1-1-0) held the Tribe (7-3-0, 1-0-0) without a shot in Sunday's opening half, and that marked the first time in 10 games this season that W&M had failed to get a shot off in a half.

For the game JMU out-shot W&M 15-13, but Tribe goalkeeper Caroline Casey stopped five of those shots, another JMU attempt hit the crossbar, and a W&M defender cleared away a near score by the Dukes. Casey recorded her fifth complete-game shutout and her seventh overall shutout of the year.

The regionally top-ranked Tribe's first goal came on a left-footed shot from six yards out by Emory Camper with 18:41 left to play. The goal was set up by a pass from Dani Rutter,

Nicole Baxter provided W&M's second goal on a header off a cross from Leci Irvin with 6:11 left on the clock.