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Led by three goals from Anne van Erp, the No. 15 American University field hockey team downed Richmond Friday morning at Jacobs Field, 5-1.  Melissa Casale and Gina Hofmann each added one goal as American defeated the Spiders for the fifth time in eight years.

American (1-0) was on the attack early in the first half, beginning with a Van Erp goal two minutes in. Kirstin Gebhart initially set up the strike with a long pass up the field to Constanza Palma, who received the ball along the baseline and drove it into the circle. Her cross was deflected off a Richmond defenders foot to Van Erp, who tapped it in on the near side for the Eagles' first goal of the season.

Richmond (0-1) responded five minutes later with a goal of its own as Katelin Peterson connected with Christina Amarose to tie the score at 1-1. After a stretch of mixed possession, American created another chance as Palma caused a turnover in the midfield and played it to Alex McMackin in the circle. McMackin touched the ball on to Jaclyn Anspach, but her shot landed just wide of the far post. A reverse shot by Christine Fingerhuth with a minute left in the first half went wide as well, and the Eagles went into halftime with the score still tied at 1-1.

The Eagles continued to pressure Richmond's defense as the second half began. A defensive breakdown by the Spiders' back line found Fingerhuth with possession directly in front of the cage, but a pair of saves by Richmond goalkeeper Ann Jefferis turned the Eagles away.

American was finally able to break through and found the back of the cage again in the 56th minute. Natalie Ellenberger inserted the ball off a penalty corner to Gebhart at the top of the circle. Gebhart then dumped the ball off to Hoffman who put a hard low shot back Jefferis at the left post. Within a span of five minutes, the Eagles would go on to score two more goals off penalty corners with van Erp and Casale each finding the back of the net off a Hoffman feed. Van Erp later added her third goal of the day with a deflection of a Lotte van de Mierop pass, giving American its final 5-1 margin.

"We started off really strong with a lot of energy," Associate Head Coach Sarah Thorn Krombolz commented. "Richmond is a huge rival of our, we play them yearly, and they are always very tough competition. I think if you look at the stats, the most obvious one is that we earned zero corners in the first half. We were well on our way with corners in the second half and were able to execute on those opportunities. It was really great that the girls were able to open up scoring in the second half."

The Eagles' defensive unit limited Richmond to six shots with only three on goal while goalkeeper Hannah Weitzman made two saves in the cage. American was able to stave off uneven rushes by the Spiders  twice in the second half with the score still tied. Richmond's first opportunity ended after a Tatum Dyer tackle helped to force a turnover and Weitzman came up with a save off a Dani Pycroft shot moments later to end the second.

Van Erp led all scorers with three goals on three shots. Hofmann, playing in her first game as an Eagle, scored one goal and added two assists while Casale notched one goal. Gebhart, Ellenberger and Constanza Palma, also playing in her first game for American, were all credited with one assist.

American will return to Jacobs Field this Sunday, August 29th, as the Eagles takes on No. 16 Old Dominion at 2 p.m. Fans unable to attend the game can catch all of the action live through AUeagles.com via a subscription to Eagles Vision TV. Eagles Vision TV will broadcast all eight of American's home field hockey games this season, bringing the action from Jacobs Field to your computer.  Year-long subscriptions are $49.95 and allow you to watch every live broadcast produced by Eagles Vision TV and access to the Eagles Vision TV archives to watch past games on-demand. Single-game subscriptions, which are only available during live broadcasts, are also available for $5.95 per event.