HARRISONBURG, Va. (JMU Athletics) – Looking to build off a run to the round of 16 and a No. 18 final ranking this past season, James Madison men’s soccer has pushed out its 2024 schedule, head coach Paul Zazenski announced Tuesday morning.

“Our Fall 2024 slate will have an abundance of high-level teams from all over the DI landscape,” said Zazenski. “We are competing against 7 NCAA tournament teams from the 2023 season so we will be tested no doubt. We open up the season with a West Coast trip in which we will get to know our group very well right off the bat. As always, the Sun Belt Conference will provide us with the opportunity to play against some of the top teams in the country. With a strong veteran group returning for the fall 2024 season, we hope to use this experience to our benefit and represent the program in the highest possible way.”

The slate will feature 17 matches with nine played at Sentara Park, as the Dukes will face seven sides that appeared in last season’s NCAA tournament.

Six of the eight non-conference matches this season will begin the season, as JMU will start with a West Coast swing taking on Northridge and the Pac-12 champion UCLA on Aug. 22 and Aug. 25, respectively.

JMU then returns home for five of the next six matches, with the lone road game being on Sept. 17 at Mount St. Mary’s. The Dukes will play three straight highly anticipated home matches, beginning with against NC State on Aug. 31. On Sept. 9, the Dukes welcome Georgetown in a rematch of last season’s NCAA Second Round match that saw JMU advance to the round of 16. Finally, JMU will play the first of four in-state foes, as Liberty visits Sentara Park on Sept. 14.

The final two non-conference matches will first be home against Radford on Sept. 24 and then at Virginia, another round of 16 team from last season, on Oct. 8.

After the road match at the Mount, the Dukes will begin Sun Belt Conference play on Sept. 21 as they host UCF. The Dukes and Knights are two of five Sun Belt sides to play in the NCAA tournament last season, with Kentucky (Oct. 19) and West Virginia (Oct. 27) also being hosted at Sentara Park. JMU will travel to the defending Sun Belt champion Marshall on Oct 4.

In addition to those four Sun Belt matches, JMU will host Coastal Carolina (Oct. 12) and Georgia State (Nov. 1) and hit the road to play Georgia Southern (Sept. 18), South Carolina (Oct. 23) and Old Dominion (Nov. 5).

The top eight sides after regular season play will advance to the Sun Belt Championship from Nov. 10-17. The top two seeds will host the quarterfinals and semifinals before the championship match held at the top remaining seed.

— JMU Athletics —