Up Again: Dukes vs. Demon Deacons
September 3, 2009 • By Sean Petrizzi,
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The JMU field hockey team will face Wake Forest in its home opener Sunday. The three-time defending Colonial Athletic Association champions will look to avenge a close loss to the Demon Deacons last season in Winston-Salem, N.C.
“I think we are at a point in our program where we are a little tired of just being close against Wake,” JMU coach Antoinette Lucas said.
Last season Lauren Walls scored the first goal of the game and gave the Dukes the early 1-0 lead. The third ranked Deacons were able to overcome the early deficit and eventually handed the then seventh ranked Dukes it first loss of the season by a 3-1 final.
Lucas is no longer concerned about last year’s results.
“It is a whole other game,” Lucas said, “We are so young, but we are also fortunate to be here on our field this year.”
The coaching staff feels that having the Wake Forest game at home will give them a great advantage.
“We get great support everywhere we go but it will be great to get our home crowd into this game,” assistant coach Julie Munson said.
Wake Forest is a three-time NCAA champion with all three titles coming earlier this decade. The Demon Deacons, led by six-time Atlantic Coast Conference coach of the year Jennifer Averill, come to Harrisonburg ranked second in the National Field Hockey Coaches Association poll. With two returning All-Americans in Raisa Schiller and Aileen Davis Wake Forest was picked fourth by ACC coaches in the competitive league. The Deacons will also return seniors Melissa Martin and Hilary Moore who scored the tying and game-winning goal, last year against JMU.
If the 12th-ranked Dukes are able to seize a victory on Sunday, they will have to do so without their early season star Tori Lindsey, who’s attending her sister’s wedding. Lindsey scored the first two goals of her career in the team’s (3-2) victory over Kent State on Sunday. The team will also be without the only player who scored in last year’s game against Wake Forest, Lauren Walls.
“Our game plan will be the same,” Lucas said, “We are looking for a midfielder with a forward mindset to step up. We’ll put it together the next few days.”
Lucas and her team will benefit from the presence of the CAA Rookie of the Week midfielder Vivienne Konijnendijk, who scored her first goal in her first collegiate game against 18th ranked Ohio State, leading the Dukes to the 1-0 victory. Konijnendijk credits her quick start to her teammates and coaches.
“Everyone is so nice,” Konijnendijk said. “We play together. There are no egos on the team.”
Playing a team of the caliber of Wake Forest can be a defining game for any CAA program. Munson said with such a young team it is important to play hard and learn from the game.
“We have to play hard the whole game because we know Wake will,” Munson said. “We are still trying to figure out who we are as JMU Field Hockey. Sunday will help us find that out.”
Contact Sean Petrizzi at petrizsm@jmu.edu
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