The No. 18 American University field hockey team will face a
pair of ranked opponents this weekend as they take on No. 20
Massachusetts and No. 17 James Madison. American will face the
Minutewomen on Saturday, September 18, at 12:00 p.m. before playing
the Dukes on Sunday, September 19, at 2:00 p.m. Both games will be
played at Jacobs Field.
The Eagles (3-2) are coming off a strong weekend of play in
which they captured a pair of wins against Rutgers, 3-1, and New
Hampshire, 5-2. Eight different Eagles scored over the weekend
while holding their opponents to a combined 14 shots and 10 penalty
corners. Freshman Constanza
Palma scored her first career goal against New
Hampshire, which proved to be the game winner, and played a key
role in the midfield leading her to be named Patriot League Rookie
of the Week on Monday.
The pair of victories allowed American to move up two spots in
this week's Kookaburra / NFHCA Coaches Poll to No. 18.
American has attacked with balance this season as six different
Eagles have recorded five points or more. Anne van
Erp leads the team with three goals on the year, while
Melissa
Casale, Christine
Fingerhuth, Gina
Hofmann and Lotte
van de Mierop have each tallied two. Hofmann and
Natalie
Ellenberger are tied for the team lead in assists with
three, while senior Hannah
Weitzman sports a 1.25 gaa and a .647 save
percentage.
The Minutewomen (3-3) also won a pair of matches over the
weekend, including an overtime victory against Yale and an upset of
then No. 4 Connecticut. UMass is led by senior captain Katie Kelly,
who has notched five goals in six games and was named A-10 Player
of the Week on Tuesday. Freshman Linsay Bowman has also tallied two
goals on the year. In the cage for the Minutewomen is Alesha
Widdall, who carries a 1.30 gaa and an .826 save percentage.
The last meeting between American and Massachusetts came in
2004, when the Eagles trounced the Minutemen 7-0. American went on
to finish with a 19-3 record that season and made the program's
first appearance in the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight.
James Madison (2-4) is looking to rebound from a pair of
one-goal losses against Michigan and Michigan State last week. The
Dukes are led by senior Amy Daniel, who has five goals and three
assists on the year. Lindsay Cutchins and Dolores de Rooij have
also made an impact with three goals apiece. Goalkeeper Margo
Savage has a 1.27 gaa and a .771 save percentage over six
games.
American has faced James Madison each of the past nine seasons,
with the Dukes holding a slight 5-4 series advantage. In 2009, the
Eagles fell 3-2 in strokes despite two Fingerhuth goals. The last
time American defeated the Dukes was in 2006, when the Eagles won
6-2 at Jacobs Field.
Fans unable to attend Saturday's game can catch all of the
action live through AUeagles.com via
a subscription to Eagles
Vision TV. 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. Due
to scheduling conflicts, Sunday's game will not be broadcast.
