HARRISONBURG, Va., Sept.11, 2012 -- James Madison redshirt senior Christian McLaughlin (Herndon, Va./Herndon) converted a penalty kick in the closing minutes of the first half to lift the Dukes to a 1-0 upset of top-ranked and defending NCAA men's soccer champion North Carolina Tuesday evening at University Park.

UNC (4-1-0), which entered the game ranked number one in the NSCAA coaches poll and number two in the Soccer America poll, lost for the first time in five games.  JMU evened its record at 2-2-1.

Before a University Park-record crowd of 1,531 the Dukes extended their home unbeaten streak to 14 games (12-0-2), tying the school record set during the 2003-04 seasons (13-0-1).

McLaughlin converted a penalty kick with 3:12 left in the opening half, sending the ball to the left side of the goal while senior goalkeeper Scott Goodwin (Raleigh, N.C./Broughton) dove to the right.

The penalty was assessed when UNC sophomore defender Jordan McCrary (Marietta, Ga./Lassiter) was called for a shove on freshman Bjarki Aðalsteinsson (Kópavogur, Iceland/Menntaskólinn í Kópavogi) in the penalty area.

JMU out-shot UNC 9-7, and redshirt junior goalkeeper Colin Newcity (Harrisonburg, Va./Harrisonburg) made three saves to get his second shutout of the year.  Goodwin finished with two saves.

"It was in essence the perfect storm," said JMU head coach Tom Martin.  "We had the right team, we worked our socks off, defended very well, were dangerous where we should have been and we got what we deserved, which is not always the case in soccer."

(We played) "a lot of possession soccer; we felt we had a strength there.  We wanted to capitalize on re-start dead ball situations; we thought we had a decided advantage there.  We pressured the ball in midfield and got a turnover.  They fouled us (and) we got a free kick.  Bjarki was pushed in the back on his run (and) the referee was in great position and called it, and that was it."
 

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