HARRISONBURG, Va. – The eighth-ranked Virginia field hockey team (4-1) suffered its first loss of the season, a 1-0 setback to ninth-ranked James Madison (3-1) in extra time on the road Wednesday.
The winning goal for the Dukes came in the 98th minute, with 1:43 remaining before the two teams would have gone to deciding penalty strokes. JMU’s Melissa Stefaniak stole the ball away from UVa and then exchanged passes with teammate Ashley Walls before Walls then hit the ball from six yards out that got past Virginia goalkeeper Devon Burnley.
“It was a hard-fought game by both teams,” Virginia head coach Michele Madison said. “It was such a close game and you can see that from the result. We had opportunities and when it is as close as it was, you have to finish.
“We have to learn from this game,” Madison continued. “We saw a lot. We saw how we played in overtime. We created opportunities and we have to build on that. We still have a lot to work on.”
After regulation ended in a 0-0 draw, Virginia came out strong in the first extra time session. In the first overtime period, the Cavaliers outshot James Madison 5-2 and had four corners compared to one for James Madison. The only Duke corner came as time had expired. Burnley recorded a save off a shot from Walls and a second extra time session was forced.
In the second overtime, James Madison claimed a 4-1 shot advantage and had the lone penalty corner. The Cavalier offense had its best chance to score in the period when Traci Ragukas intercepted the ball and broke out into a 3-on-2 Cavalier advantage. Virginia’s Paige Selenski took the shot that was saved by All-American Kelsey Cutchins.
For the game, Virginia had a slight edge on shots, 17-16. Inge Kaars Sijpestein led the way with five shots; teammates Floor Vogels and Selenski each had two shots on goal. Cutchins, meanwhile, finished with five saves.
Walls led the Dukes with seven shots in the game, three of which came on goal. Virginia’s Amy Desjadon recorded one save in the first half while Burnley played the second and both overtime sessions. She finished with a season-high four saves.
The Cavaliers also finished with 15 short corners in the game while James Madison had 10.
Virginia is back in action at 1 p.m. Saturday against Kent State at the University Hall Turf Field.
Full Scoreboard
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
