The University of Delaware field hockey team will head to their seventh straight CAA championship game after defeating James Madison 5-3 on Friday at Fred P. Rullo Stadium.
The standouts in the game for the Blue Hens were junior forward Lotte de Koning, senior forward Ally Pollak, junior midfielder Femke Strien, freshman midfielder Ashlyn Carr and junior back Emily Kresho.
De Koning had nine shots, eight shots at the goal and scored four goals.
Pollak had two shots, two shots at the goal, scored one goal and one assist.
Strien had two shots and four assists.
Carr had two shots, one shot at the goal and one assist.
Kresho had one assist.
Redshirt senior goalkeeper Sydney Rhodes allowed three goals and had four saves in 60 minutes of play.
Delaware First To Get On The Board
The Blue Hens did not waste any time with getting the first points on the board as Lotte de Koning found the net at the 6:28 minute mark in the first period. Emily Kresho and Femke Strien assisted on the first goal of the game for Delaware.
The rest of the first period, the defense of the two teams took over as the scoreboard was silent for the rest of the period.
Delaware Scores Two Goals In Second Period
The junior forward Lotte de Koning was not done scoring goals just yet, as she found the net once again at the 16:41 minute mark to give the Hens a 2-0 lead. Femke Strien and Ally Pollak assisted on de Koning’s second goal of the game.
A couple minutes later, de Koning was at it once again as she scored her third goal of the game to give Delaware a 3-0 lead at the 19:33 minute mark. Strien assisted on de Koning’s third goal of the game.
James Madison Scores Twice In The Third Period
James Madison was silenced by the dominant play of the Hens defense in the first half of the game but it was a different story in the second half.
JMU came alive in the third period as the team scored two straights goals to decrease the Blue Hens lead to 3-2.
James Madison’s first goal in the third period came from Caroline Cahill who was assisted by Rachel Yeager and Cassie Hunter.
The second James Madison goal came at the 41:36 minute mark, where Yeager found the net who was assisted by Eveline Zwager.
Delaware Scores Two Goals In The Fourth Period To Seal Game
James Madison had all the momentum going into the fourth period with scoring two consecutive goals in the third but the tide would change as Delaware found their way to the net two times in the period.
At the 51:48 minute mark, Ally Pollak scored a goal which would increase Delaware’s lead to 4-2. Ashlyn Carr assisted on Pollak’s goal in the fourth period.
The scoring machine of the day, Lotte de Koning found the net for the fourth time in the game as her goal gave the Hens a 5-2 lead at the 53:14 minute mark.Femke Strien and Pollak assisted on de Koning’s fourth goal of the game.
Less than a minute later after de Koning’s goal, James Madison’s Megan Guzzardi would score a goal that cut the Hens lead to 5-3. Miranda Rigg assisted on Guzzardi’s goal for James Madison.
Delaware was able to shut down James Madison the rest of the way to take home a 5-3 win and advance to CAA championship game to play Northeastern which happens on November 9th at 1PM ET at Fred P. Rullo Stadium.
Team Stats:
Shots: UD 16 & JMU 9
Saves: UD 4 & JMU 7
Penalty Corners: UD 7 & JMU 8
Fouls: UD 0 &JMU 0
Individual:
Goals: De Koning(4) & Ally Pollak (1)
GK:Rhodes allowed three goals and had four saves in 60 minutes of play.
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