Despite having a two-goal lead late into the second half, the No. 19 AU field hockey team was not able to pull off the upset against No. 13 James Madison on Sunday, losing 3-2.
Even though the Lady Eagles played at JMU, they set the tone from the onset. AU quickly got on the board when AU’s Christine Fingerhuth netted the game’s first goal just two minutes in. American held a 7-1 shot advantage against the Dukes in the early going. To go along with their early momentum, AU also had four penalty corners. The shots and corners allowed for AU to keep up the pressure in JMU’s zone.
The Lady Eagles continued their strong play in the second half. Fingerhuth tallied AU’s second goal just 54 seconds into it. Melissa Casale got the assist on the goal, feeding the ball to Fingerhuth from the right striking circle.
The score remained unchanged for nearly 25 minutes in the second half, as it seemed the Lady Eagles would cruise to their fourth straight win. However, AU was unable to keep up the pressure, as JMU began their comeback with just over 10 minutes remaining in the game. The Dukes scored on an uncontested shot at the upper left of the circle, to make it 2-1. They would score again four minutes later on a penalty corner to tie it up.
Both teams would go on to play two scoreless fifteen-minute overtime periods. The Dukes’ goaltender, who was superb all afternoon, had to make five saves. American also had three penalty corners in the second overtime frame but was unable to cash in on any of them.
AU held a 17-10 shots advantage over JMU going into the shootout, with an 11-5 advantage in shots on goal. Despite those statistics, an AU miss by Carly Boyce was all the Dukes needed to seal their victory. JMU scored on all of their shots, to win the stroke-off 5-4.
This loss marks the third straight time that AU has lost to JMU.
“We played a great team in James Madison today and overall we had a strong performance,” Head Coach Steve Jennings told AU Athletics. “We are disappointed that we couldn’t hold onto our two-goal lead but they scored two brilliant goals to force the game into overtime and it was anybody’s game at that point. I was really proud of our team for how hard we fought and the chances we created.”
The Lady Eagles will face No. 3 Wake Forest at home on Sept. 27 at 1 p.m., in their Phil Jacobs game. The game is a rematch of the first round of the last year’s NCAA Tournament, where AU lost to Wake Forest 7-1. The Demon Deacons come into the game having won four consecutive games, three of them against ranked opponents.
You can reach this writer at sports@theeagleonline.com.
