The American University field hockey team (1-3) won their first game of the season against the Longwood University Lancers (1-1) on Sept. 9.
It was a picture-perfect sunny afternoon, where fans of the Lancers, who had traveled from Farmville, Virginia, and Eagles supporters came together to watch the teams match up on Jacobs Field. The Eagles were hungry for their first win of the season after losing to tough matchups last week.
American took control early in the first period against Longwood University. Graduate student goalkeeper Bryn Underwood strongly defended the goal from the start, setting a sturdy, defensive pace for the Eagles.
Just under two minutes into the game, senior midfielder Agustina Roffo fired a shot on goal, but Longwood made a save to deny the early lead. However, American kept the momentum in their favor throughout the period.
The Eagles continued to push forward and remained on the offensive, with senior midfielder Delia Rabatin getting in a close shot at the 10:58 that went wide. Despite the 0-0 score at the end of the first period, the Eagles maintained an aggressive offensive play style that kept Longwood on defense for most of the first period.
After a quiet start to the second quarter, the Eagles broke through the back and forth action with a penalty corner at 15:51. Despite the Lancers’ goalie blocking the corner, American kept pressing Longwood, and at 20:30 senior midfielder Federica Turina Dellamaggiore broke the stalemate and notched her first goal of the season to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.
As Longwood struggled to keep up with American’s tempo, the Eagles continued their aggressive play. Right before halftime, sophomore forward Jordan Reicher added another goal, extending American’s lead 2-0 before halftime.
American continued to come out strong in the third quarter, opening with offensive pressure. Early in the quarter freshman defender Olivia Morraye had a close shot from a penalty corner followed by another shot on goal from Dellamaggiore. At the 34:34 mark, Rabatin found the back of the net and pushed the Eagles’ lead to 3-0.
The Eagles weren’t done yet. Following another penalty corner at 37:14, sophomore defender Sophie Willemse scored her first goal of the season with an assist from senior midfielder Katelyn Bailey, making the score 4-0 for American at the end of the third quarter.
The Eagles closed out their dominant performance against Longwood in the fourth quarter. American’s defense remained strong, with Underwood holding strong in goal and preventing any inroads from Longwood’s offense.
The Eagles kept up the offensive pressure and got a few more shots on goal that ultimately were unsuccessful. The Eagles ended the game with a comfortable 4-0 lead.
“It felt amazing. The first three games we were kind of in a slump, so the fact that we were able to come out and dominate this first game is amazing,” Rabatin said.
Willemse, Dellamaggiore, Rabatin and Reicher all contributed a goal to the Eagles in their first win of the season .
Head coach Steve Jennings acknowledged that American has multiple offensively capable players.
“We’re a team where you can’t try to focus on just one person. We’re happy to see we have multiple people that can take changes when it comes to them and put it away,” Jennings said.
The Eagles will next appear in the Terrapin Invitational on Sept. 13 and 15 at The University of Maryland in College Park.
This article was edited by Connor Sturniolo, Penelope Jennings and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks and Ella Rousseau.
