James Madison University women’s soccer announced its 2026 schedule on April 27, with Head Coach Joshua Walters, Sr. unveiling the lineup for the upcoming season.
The announcement is important as it outlines the team’s preparation and competition plans for the next year, highlighting changes in NCAA regulations that affect scheduling and player development.
The Dukes will play a total of 19 matches in the fall, with half of them taking place at Sentara Park. The season will begin at home against NC State on August 12 and George Mason on August 16. James Madison will then play three away games to close out August, facing Georgia, Virginia, and Princeton. In September, JMU hosts Georgetown and UNC Greensboro as part of the Fairfield by Marriott Invitational before concluding non-conference play with road matches at Liberty and Loyola Maryland.
“I am very excited about the 2026 schedule. It is another year where we have a challenging slate,” Walters said. He added: “Our goal is to give us two opportunities at the NCAA tournament. With the non-conference you must climb the RPI ladder to be in the mix for a NCAA at large tournament bid through the quality of opponent. Results against top 1-50 along with wins overall creates the resume to be considered. Then in Sun Belt play, the tough non-conference games will prepare us to make a run at a Sun Belt tournament championship through the regular season conference gauntlet. The Sun Belt as a conference has taken big strides nationally elevating the conference in RPI. As a program, you must grow through the conference season to be there at the end in the championship game. Winning the Sun Belt tournament is an automatic qualifier into the NCAA tournament.”
Conference play begins away against Southern Miss on September 18, followed by additional road games versus Marshall, Arkansas State, Coastal Carolina, and Georgia Southern throughout October and early November. Home league matches include ULM (September 24), App State (October 1), Old Dominion (October 11), Louisiana Tech (October 15), and Georgia State (October 25).
Walters also addressed changes introduced by recent NCAA decisions: “The main difference in the 2026 schedule from years before is that the NCAA extended the season of games to 14 weeks and added an extra two weeks of preseason,” he said. “This helps us better prepare…with now a four-week run up to first countable game vs [the] old two-week sprint…JMU is committed to our program and supporting these changes to help us compete nationally.”
The Sun Belt Championship will take place once again at Foley Sports Tourism Complex in Foley, Alabama for its eleventh consecutive year; quarterfinals are set for November 9 followed by semifinals on November 11 and finals on November 14.
