WASHINGTON – On a blue-bird Sunday afternoon at Jacobs Complex, the Eagles of the American University field hockey team earned their first win against Longwood University. Four goals from four different players lifted the team to a decisive 4-nil shutout win over the Lancers.
 
QUOTES FROM COACH JENNINGS
"It was great for our offense to get going today, and have better rhythm, and have better chances," said head coach Steve Jennings in his postgame interview. "We're a team that you can't ever try to just focus on one person, but I'm really happy to see that we have multiple people that can take chances when they come to them and be able to put it away.
 
"We did a good job with being in front, had a lot of intercepts and put good pressure on the ball. It's nice to have a shutout and total team victory today. I think the biggest takeaway is that we won. We've been in some difficult game that could have gone either way, two double overtime losses, and obviously if we had gotten the breaks there, we'd have been the victors. But I think this is really important for our confidence and important for all the work that the team puts in. It was great to get in the win column today and now we just need to find a way to keep that going."

QUICK NOTABLES

• The Eagle's goals came from seniors Federica Turina Dellamaggiore and Delia Rabatin, and sophomores Jordan Reicher and Sophie Willemse. The last time AU beat a team by four was versus Yale early in the 2023 season.
• For Reicher and Willemse, each was their second goal of the season, both having scored two days prior at JMU. For Rabatin and Turina Dellamaggiore, each senior scored their first of 2024.
• AU had a 5-3 advantage in penalty corners in the game and a 14-2 edge in total shots, which led to an 8-1 shots-on-goal advantage.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Two minutes into the game, Agustina Roffo registered the first shot of the day, forcing an early save from Longwood's Santia McLaughlin. The only other shot in the first frame came at the 11 minute mark when Rabatin's attempt went wide.
• The opening frame ended an even nil-nil, but with possession being dominated from American.
• The second opened with back and forth action. In the 16th minute, Willemse registered a shot that was blocked by a defender, and on the other end in the 17th minute, LWU's Luna Prieri had a shot sail wide past the goal. It was the first offensive attempt for the Lancers.
• In the 21st minute, Turina Dellamaggiore subbed back into the game and ten seconds later, her shot attempt was the first goal of the day for American. The senior's shot sailed over McLaughlin's diving attempt to stop it and into the right corner of the cage.
• The Eagles would carry a 1-nil lead until the final minute out from halftime when a scuffle in the circle had the ball bouncing away from the goal before Reicher intercepted its path with a backhanded swing to send it through traffic into the bottom left corner of the goal. American was up 2-nil at halftime.
• Coming out of the break, the Eagles earned a penalty corner and had two shots as a result but one was saved and one went wide. On the opposite end, in the 35th minute, Bryn Underwood was forced to make her first save of the day and the Eagles defended against two Longwood penalty corners in a row. The unit in the back held strong and didn't allow another shot as a result of either corner.
• In fact, the Eagles quickly moved the ball up the field, taking advantage of the Lancer's defense being pushed so high up. Twenty seconds after the second consecutive corner, Rabatin raced down the field and found herself 1-on-1 with new goalkeeper Sophie Mooldijk, taking her time to draw the keeper out and slip it past, across the face of the goal into the back left corner.
• Three minutes after going up 3-nil, the Eagles would score their fourth and final goal of the contest when, off a corner Willemse, with a stop assist from Katelyn Bailey, swept the ball straight into the back of the goal. It was her second attempt on goal for the afternoon. She would register another in the fourth quarter that would be saved.
• American would register three more shot attempts after their fourth goal, and keep the Lancers from making another attempt, and the 4-nil scoreline would hold for the Eagles' first victory of the season.

UP NEXT
The Eagles are taking part in the Terrapin Invitational hosted by Maryland in College Park, Md. There, AU will face off with Lock Haven (Friday, Sept. 13) and Virginia (Sunday, Sept. 15).
 
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