JMU Clipped by App State, Claim Share of MAC Regular-Season Title

Sunday, November 3

Harrisonburg, Va.

1 p.m.

James Madison University

(13-5)

App State

(11-7)

App State

James Madison

JMU Clipped by App State, Claim Share of MAC Regular-Season Title

11/3/2024 5:45:00 PM | Field Hockey

Box Score Photo Gallery

HARRISONBURG, Va. – Trailing 4-2 with under four minutes remaining, Carissa Tambroni scored to cut the deficit to one, however, James Madison could not muster an equalizer as App State held on for the 4-3 win on Sunday afternoon at the JMU Field Hockey Complex in Mid-American Conference action.

With the loss, JMU (13-5, 7-1 MAC) shares the league's regular season title with the Mountaineers (11-7, 7-1 MAC) and Miami (Ohio) (10-7, 7-1 MAC). However, the Dukes claimed the No. 1 seed in the tournament via conference goal differential, having outscored MAC opponents 28-8 in the regular season.

Tambroni paced the JMU offense with two goals, with both assists from graduate student Sarah Beers. Junior Alice Roeper found the back of the net for her 14th goal of the season, while redshirt sophomore Maddie Tierney chipped in with her first career assist.

Senior Katie Fricke registered three saves in 59:13 of action.

Kassie Paul (2), Florine Koopman (1) and Lise Boekaar (1) all scored for App State. Koopman, Grace ball and Noa Ginjaume Matas added assists, while goalkeeper Claire Grenis made one save in the win.

Quoting Head Coach Christy Morgan
"It was a disappointing loss. That was not our best hockey, but was the best App State has played all season. We will use this bad loss as fuel to be better!"

How It Happened

Boekaar batted home a bouncing ball on a penalty corner situation to give the Mountaineers a 1-0 lead at the 6:02 mark of the opening frame.
Koopman connected with Paul across the goal line during a scramble in front of the net to make it 2-0 App State early in the second.
JMU responded with under five minutes to go in the third when Tierney sent an inlet pass from outside the circle to the far right post that was tapped in by Roeper to trail 2-1.
Three minutes later, Tambroni scored the equalizer on a corner with an assist from Beers.
The Mountaineers answered with a tipped pass from Matas to set up Paul for a one-on-one, who used a reverse shot to regain the lead.
App State struck just 25 seconds into the final frame with a goal from Koopman and an assist from Ball on a penalty corner.
Tambroni and the Dukes made it 4-3 with 3:24 on a penalty corner play nearly identical to her goal in the third with an assist from Beers.

Game Notes

James Madison leads App State, 20-4-1, in the all-time series dating back to 1974.
App State held an advantage in shots (17-7), shots on goal 7-4) and penalty corners (10-2).
The Mountaineers' four goals are tied for the most by a JMU opponent this season since Monmouth came away with a 4-3 win in Harrisonburg on Sept. 8.
Thursday's semifinal game will be JMU's first conference tournament game since falling 3-1 to No. 2 seed Delaware in the 2021 CAA title game on Nov. 7. The Dukes were also the No. 1 seed that season after going 6-0 in league play.
Tambroni's goals give her seven in the last seven games.
Tierney's assist was the first point of her career.
Roeper has scored and/or assisted in all but three games she's appeared in this season.

Up Next
With the No. 1 seed, the Dukes will play the winner of No. 4 seed Kent State versus No. 5 seed Ball State. The quarterfinal matchup between the Golden Flashes and Cardinals is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 6 at 11:30 a.m. JMU's semifinal contest against the game one winner is slated for 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 7. All games take place on the campus of Miami (Ohio) and will stream on Chatterbox sports. The championship match will take place on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 2 p.m. with the winner earning an automatic berth into the NCAA Field Hockey Championship.

For more information about the MAC Field Hockey Championship, click here.