HARRISONBURG, Va –The No. 22 Old Dominion field hockey team (5-2, 1-0 BIG EAST) had its five-game winning streak snapped in a 3-1 loss against James Madison (3-4, 0-0 CAA) on the road on Sunday afternoon.
"I think on balance, we deserved the result today," head coach Andrew Griffiths stated after the game. "JMU is very aggressive, and we didn't play a high quality game in the first half. We were very sloppy, and we could have easily conceded more than one goal."
It looked like the two teams would go into the halftime locker room in a scoreless tie, but JMU managed to open the scoring with less than a minute on the clock in the second quarter. Marina Rupinski managed to redirect a shot passed Monarch goalkeeper Cam MacGillivray to give the Dukes the lead.
ODU tallied five penalty corners in the first half, but only managed one shot. JMU collected four shots and four penalty corners in the first 30 minutes.
The Monarchs finally broke through the stingy JMU defense on a penalty corner in the 39thminute, as senior Jess Miller netted her second goal of the season off of a rebounded shot to tie the game at one apiece.
The game’s final frame started with the teams still tied, but it didn’t last long, as JMU netted its second goal of the game after just 34 seconds had passed. Miranda Rigg was credited with the goal, her fourth of the season.
The Dukes added another insurance goal with just over two minutes left to play, as freshman Emily Harrison trickled a shot passed MacGillivray for her first goal of her collegiate career.
Miller had her goal on her only shot of the day, while senior Erin Huffman registered four shots, all on goal. MacGillivray tallied three saves in the effort.
Riggs led the way for the Dukes, collecting a goal and an assist on five shots, three on goal. JMU goalkeeper Kylie LeBlanc turned aside five Monarch shots.
"The second half was a much better performance, we really controlled possession, moved the ball well and created a lot of good opportunities. Our midfield and build up play improved significantly," Griffiths said. "In the end, we made a couple of errors that cost us the game. We continue to play some high-level hockey for periods of our games, and our next step to raise the level is to push those periods longer in the game."
Overall, the Monarchs had 10 penalty corner opportunities and seven shots, all of which were on goal. The Dukes registered nine shots and five penalty corners.
The Monarchs will hit the road again for their next game, which will be against UConn on Friday, September 27. Game time is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.