Dukes Survive Kent State, Advance to MAC Title Game

Thursday, November 7

Oxford, Ohio

11:30 a.m.

James Madison University

(14-5)

No. 4 Kent State

(7-12)

Kent State

James Madison

11/7/2024 3:15:00 PM | Field Hockey

Box Score

OXFORD, Ohio – Kent State scored two goals in the final seven minutes, but James Madison was able to make a stop on a penalty corner in the waning seconds to hold on for a 3-2 victory in the semifinals of the Mid-American Conference Field Hockey Championship at Miami FH Stadium on Thursday afternoon.

The Dukes (14-5, 7-1 MAC) will face the winner of No. 2 seed App State versus No. 3 seed Miami (Ohio) in the MAC title game. The championship game is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 9, at 2 p.m. Fans can watch the title match on GetSomeMACtion.com.

Skyler Brown led the JMU attack with one goal and one assist. Julie Narleski found the back of the net for the second time this season, while Alice Roeper scored on a penalty stroke, her fourth penalty stroke goal of the year.

Goalkeeper Katie Fricke made a trio of saves for her fifth career win.

The Golden Flashes were led by Madison Leety and Bella Carpenter with a goal each. Arden Goddard-Despot recorded the lone assist for Kent State. KSU netminder Lieve Jansen made 11 saves in the loss.

Quoting Head Coach Christy Morgan
"We played with a lot of good energy and emotion, and we played together. There were moments of brilliance, but a couple of lapses that we have to clean up. It's tournament time so you want things to work on so that you can get better. There's more for us. I love the connected hockey where everybody got involved."

How It Happened

Brown intercepted a pass at the 25-yard line and drove in to the circle where she sent a bouncing pass to Narleski who deflected the ball in to put the Dukes up 1-0 at the 6:43 mark of the opening frame.
With 1:07 remaining in the first, Brown collected a rebound off a shot from Roeper and delivered a strike over Jansen for a 2-0 JMU lead.
Roeper converted on a penalty stroke to the bottom right corner to expand the Dukes' advantage to 3-0.
Kent State finally broke through on a penalty corner as a ball trickled in from Leety with an assist from Goddard-Despot to make it 3-1 with 7:04 remaining.
With under three minutes to go, JMU was called for obstruction in the circle to draw a KSU penalty stroke. Carpenter executed the stroke with a shot to the left side to cut the deficit to one (3-2).
The Golden Flashes earned a penalty corner with seven seconds to go, however, a shot from Carpenter went wide as the Dukes held on for the 3-2 victory.

Game Notes

James Madison will place in its first conference championship game since 2021. That season, the No. 1-seeded Dukes fell to No. 2 Delaware in overtime, 2-1, on Nov. 7.
JMU leads Kent State 12-4 in the all-time series, dating back to 1974.
The Dukes held an advantage in shots (18-9) and shots on goal (14-5), while KSU earned more penalty corners (7-5).
The Golden Flashes did not register a shot in the first half.
Roeper's penalty stroke marked her 15th goal of the season. The last JMU player to score 15 or more goals in a season was Eveline Zwager who found of the back of the net 16 times during her junior campaign in 2021.