HARRISONBURG, Va. – A strike at the end of the first half and a pair of late second half goals lifted No. 25 James Madison past the Longwood men's soccer team by a 3-0 final Tuesday night at Sentara Park.

Manuel Ferriol scored the game winner on a strike from inside the box in the 37th minute after receiving a pass from Tom Judge. The goal for Ferriol was his fifth of the season.

The loss for the Lancers (4-11-1) in their final nonconference game of the season marked their second straight, as the Lancers faced its third stiff test against a Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) opponent after playing UNC Wilmington and William & Mary earlier this season. All three of those teams were tabbed among the top-three in the CAA Preseason Poll projected order of finish, as voted upon by the league's coaches.

"We came up against an in-form team and it was a little too much on the night," said Longwood head coach Jon Atkinson. "For as competent as James Madison were, we contributed to our downfall with errors that just made the fight to them that bit harder.

"We got a foothold back in at 1-0, having a chance to draw level and right the ship. However, we didn't convert and playing from behind is becoming a challenge for our young team but we have to do a better job mentally."

Trailing by a 1-0 margin in the second half, Willy Miezan had the opportunity to draw the Lancers level in the 61st minute with a chance to equalize before forcing a save from James Madison goalkeeper TJ Bush.

Playing Tuesday's game without the services of senior captains Josh Hanratty and Sherif Maalouf, Longwood featured a young lineup that included nine newcomers and six freshmen among its starting 11 with Josh Fordyce making his first career start.

"We had to mix up the lineup tonight to divert all of our energy to getting a result at Winthrop in order to put ourselves in striking distance for a conference tournament berth," Atkinson said.

Carson Jeffries and Tyler Clegg also added late goals for James Madison (11-3-2), who have won six straight and earned its first top 25 ranking since the 2011 season.

Markus Gronli took two of Longwood's three shots in the game including a first-half chance that was tipped over the crossbar, as TJ Bush made two saves to keep the clean sheet.

Longwood  played 20 total players throughout with Ryan Fleming, Ander Etxaniz, Jonas Kalchner and Josh Fordyce all playing 90 minutes.

Miguel Bayma received the start in goal for Longwood and split time with sophomore Jacob Reimers. Bayma made three saves on five shots faced while Reimers saved five shots on target while facing 10 total shots.

Longwood will face its final road game of the 2018 regular season, as the Lancers battle Winthrop Saturday, Oct. 27 with first touch set for 7 p.m. Following that game, the Lancers will return to the Athletics Complex to host Campbell in its regular season finale Wednesday, Oct. 31.

#GoWood