When James Madison entered the Sun Belt Conference this past July, one question swirling around the athletic department and the Dukes’ fanbase was how the purple and gold’s baseball team would fare in year one.
Friday, May 26, 2023
James Madison women’s tennis coach Shelley Jaudon resigned from her post to accept the same job at the University of Kentucky, Dukes athletic director Jeff Bourne announced on Thursday.
Thursday, May 25, 2023
After James Madison knocked off then-No. 23 Coastal Carolina 47-7 in the Dukes’ season finale at Bridgeforth Stadium in late-November, the purple and gold celebrated as if they won the Sun Belt Conference Championship.
Throughout James Madison’s three games in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, shortstop Mason Dunaway found ways to create offense after an 0-for-4 showing in the Dukes’ opener.
Each of James Madison’s four transfer additions this spring brings a different style to the Dukes. But one thing the entire group shares is a familiarity with JMU.
Wednesday, May 24, 2023
The Sun Belt Conference’s strategic plan to improve its basketball product and increase the odds of getting one or more at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament has continued to evolve.
In the first meeting between James Madison’s lineup and Southern Miss ace Tanner Hall, the Dukes logged 12 hits off the right-hander in Hattiesburg, Miss. in mid-April.
“I didn’t think it was really going to affect the schools in the Sun Belt as quickly as it has, but it has affected teams that consistently lose really good players because of it. I think teams in our league have also signed really good guys out of the portal, but whether they are using NIL or not, I don’t know that answer.”
Just inches away last fall from making the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015, James Madison women’s soccer coach Joshua Walters has been excited about the talent his Dukes return after going down in the Sun Belt championship game.
Tuesday, May 23, 2023
After he induced a leadoff flyout in the ninth inning, James Madison left-handed pitcher T.R. Williams wore a big grin across his face as his pitching coach, Jimmy Jackson, walked out to the mound.
With a record number of football season tickets sold and the sales on the packages paused until the four-year reseating takes place this summer, expanding Bridgeforth Stadium has crept into James Madison Athletic Director Jeff Bourne’s mind.
With James Madison up two runs and the chance to take the season series against Old Dominion earlier this month, Dukes coach Marlin Ikenberry turned to his hard-throwing righty, Joe Vogatsky, to close the game out.
Monday, May 22, 2023
On a spring day during Marlin Ikenberry’s junior year at the Virginia Military Institute in 1994, Keydets head coach Chris Finwood approached his catcher during batting practice and had a simple question in mind.
Sun Belt Conference meetings last week brought together the league’s basketball coaches to continue discussions on improving the Sun Belt hoops product.
As James Madison prepares for its first ever Sun Belt Conference baseball tournament appearance, JMU athletic director Jeff Bourne continues to think about the future of the program and whether or not that includes expansion and renovation of the Dukes’ baseball facility.
When James Madison joined the Sun Belt Conference last July, there were three sports that the league didn’t sponsor and the Dukes did — field hockey, swim and dive and women’s lacrosse.
Sunday, May 21, 2023
After an offseason filled with multiple comings and goings, James Madison is close to locking down its women’s basketball roster for the 2023-24 season, in which JMU will look to repeat as Sun Belt Conference champions.
Last week’s launch of the Montpelier Collective, the first organization dedicated to providing Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) financial opportunities for James Madison athletes highlighted that nearly two years into the NIL era of college sports there are still questions.
Friday, May 19, 2023
JMU’s Defensive Line Left An Impression On Louisville Transfer Gunn. Now, He’ll Face Them Every Day.
In the week leading into James Madison’s trip to play at Louisville last season, Aaron Gunn sat in the Cardinals’ meeting rooms studying the Dukes’ defensive front.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Facing an onslaught of shots from No. 2 Syracuse’s high-powered attack in the NCAA Quarterfinals, James Madison goalie Kat Buchanan kept the Dukes in the contest with acrobatic saves and point-blank saves — one after another.
Thursday, May 18, 2023
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — James Madison’s stout defense held Syracuse’s elite attack scoreless for the first 13 minutes, but its own offense couldn’t take advantage to generate quality looks.
With high expectations set going into the 2023 season, Bridgewater College baseball experienced an erratic wave of highs and lows throughout the year.
You don’t have to say it in the Shenandoah University locker room or dugout, but a big chunk of the Hornets’ baseball roster knows this postseason will be the last chance to put on the spikes and try to do some damage.
This time, a comeback wasn’t in the cards. Nor was a trip to the NCAA semifinals.
James Madison waded further into the new era of college sports Thursday with the official launch of the Montpelier Collective, an organization technically independent of JMU Athletics that aims to provide more Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) opportunities for the JMU athletes.
This time last year, James Madison didn’t have the conference tournament at the end of the tunnel to look forward to.
Wednesday, May 17, 2023
After coming up just short of both the regular season and Sun Belt Conference Tournament titles in the fall, James Madison women's soccer coach Joshua Walters described his team as a little "salty" during its spring season.
Maddie Epke went a stretch of 10 games in the middle of the season with only two goals — both of which came in a 20-10 win over then-No. 23 Richmond in early April.
For as long as Shelley Klaes has been at the helm of James Madison’s lacrosse program, she’s continued to build the Dukes into a national power.
James Madison lost another freshman women’s basketball player to the transfer portal with first-year post player Cheyenne Rowe deciding to leave the Dukes. But the Dukes added two experienced veterans with the commitments of Virginia guard Carole Miller and Ohio State's Hevynne Bristow pledg…
Tuesday, May 16, 2023
Todd Centeio wasn’t sure he’d be in this position six years ago.
Even after a strong run late in the 2022 season, James Madison was a victory short of hoisting a trophy after falling to Kentucky in the Sun Belt Conference men’s soccer title game.
Barring any late surprises, James Madison has its roster for the 2023-24 men’s basketball season, and the Dukes should once again be one of the deepest and most experienced teams in the Sun Belt Conference.
After a breakout inaugural season in the Sun Belt Conference, the buzz around James Madison is palpable — and it’s been felt by the Dukes’ ticket office.
Monday, May 15, 2023
In a relative down period based on the program’s previous decade of success, James Madison softball is in what could be considered a rebuilding cycle after ending the 2023 season last week in the Sun Belt Conference quarterfinals.
A year ago, James Madison did something it hadn’t since 2011: beat Virginia Tech.
While he waited for his phone to ring, former James Madison kicker Ethan Ratke had to get creative to find a place to workout as he tried to keep his leg in shape in case a pro team came calling.
Sunday, May 14, 2023
Caitlin McElwee hasn’t had consistent playing time for James Madison this spring, but she's taken advantage of each day in practice. So when her number was called against Maryland, she was ready.
The past half decade has seen some of the most incredible postseason performances in James Madison sports history.
Just a day after an incoming freshman guard asked James Madison for a release from his letter of intent, JMU added a commitment from an experienced transfer swingman.
After James Madison dropped three of its first four Sun Belt Conference series, including a trio of losses at Southern Miss in mid-April, the Dukes’ lineup started to take shape.
Friday, May 12, 2023
For much of this season, James Madison attacker Isabella Peterson has been humble about moving up the Dukes’ goal-scoring record book.
James Madison banged on the door for 30 minutes before breaking through, a testament to the first-half play of Army goalie Lindsey Serafine.
Thursday, May 11, 2023
Before the James Madison women’s lacrosse team had finished celebrating in front of cameras that broadcast the reaction to receiving the No. 7 overall seed in the NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Tournament worldwide to an ESPNU audience, JMU staffers were in the background of the scene at the Atlantic…
Since Rachel Matey arrived in Harrisonburg, she hasn’t played past the NCAA Tournament’s first weekend.
Roster roulette continues at James Madison as the Dukes have stayed tantalizingly close to finalizing the men’s basketball squad for the 2023-24 season, but lost an incoming high school recruit Wednesday.
After he spent the last two years waiting for a phone call, former James Madison kicker Ethan Ratke’s professional opportunity finally arrived on Wednesday.
Wednesday, May 10, 2023
Avery Pinder wasn’t sure whether or not she wanted to keep playing collegiate softball after she finished her fourth year at Division III Bridgewater College last spring.
They say nothing’s free in this world.
A couple of weeks before East Carolina’s season opener against UCF during Taji Hudson’s freshman season, the Pirates needed a tall wide receiver on their scout team to replicate a big-framed wideout in practice.