Field Hockey draws Duke
JMU travels to Durham, N.C., for first round of NCAA tournament
By John Galle, sports editor     
Posted on November 9, 2006

The JMU field hockey gathered last night at 7:30 p.m. in the Board of Visitors room in the Festival Center to watch the NCAA Selection Show that would reveal their opponent for the first round of the NCAA tournament, a tournament the Dukes have not reached since 1995.

The Dukes (15-7) will face fourth-seeded Duke (14-5) this Saturday in Durham, N.C., at 2 p.m.

“Oh! Here we go!” shouted one of the field hockey players as the show started. The room fell into an immediate hush as the CSTV commentator opened with the Winston-Salem group. He passed over top-seeded Wake Forest, which drew American, and Virginia, which got Iowa. Then, after Ohio State was called to play California, JMU’s fate was revealed.

“Yeah, it’s going to be a tough one,” senior midfielder Bailliee Versfeld said. “But we obviously do well with those, I mean look at ODU and Hofstra.”

JMU received the Colonial Athletic Association’s automatic bid after surprising the third-ranked team in the nation, ODU. In the CAA final Monday, the Dukes were outshot 23-1 by the Monarchs, but pulled out a 1-0 win. It was the Dukes’ second conference title in the team’s history.

“I see possibilities rather than limitations,” JMU coach Antoinette Lucas said. “Any of the 16 teams in this tournament is capable of a win at any time. To me, it doesn’t matter if they are seeded.”

The Dukes joined conference winners Boston University (America East), Iowa (Big Ten), Wake Forest (ACC) the University of Connecticut (Big East), Princeton (Ivy) and American (Patriot) as one of seven teams with an automatic bid.

The two other seeded teams besides Wake Forest and Duke belonged to No. 2 Maryland and No. 3 ODU.

The Dukes, as the Selection Show said last night, are on fire. They’ve won six of their last seven games and in five, they didn’t allow a goal. Freshman goalie Kelsey Cutchins, in the Dukes’ three CAA tournament matches, has 26 saves and one goal allowed on 45 shots against her.

“She’s definitely the MVP in my opinion,” Versfeld said. “She played out of her boots, saved [a late penalty] stroke [against ODU] and put us right back in the game.”

Cutchins was recognized by womensfieldhockey.com as the National Rookie of the Week and received All-Tournament honors as well. Cutchins lowered her goal against average to 1.18, which ranks her second in the CAA and seventh nationally.

“She had a few bumps and bruises along the way with her being a freshman early on,” Lucas said. “But to me, she’s peaking, she’s growing into her own and its just right at the right moment.”

Duke holds the home-field advantage through the first two rounds, as they host games in Durham. However, JMU has not been afraid to play on the road recently.

“When we lost to Hofstra on the road, we said to the team ‘we have to get tough and win the games on the road if we’re going to be an NCAA championship team,’” Lucas said. “And they took that to heart, winning three on the road [since then].”

Though the Dukes lack experience on the NCAA stage, Versfeld and Lucas believe JMU’s tough schedule prepared it going in. Of JMU’s 20 opponents this season, 18 of them were ranked or received votes. Six of JMU’s seven losses have come against ranked teams, including No. 2 Maryland, No. 3 ODU, No. 8 North Carolina, No. 10 Virginia, No. 17 Richmond and No. 19 American — all of which made the NCAA tournament. In other words, the Dukes are used to being the underdog with nothing to lose.

“We weren’t expected to [beat ODU] in the CAAs,” Cutchins said. “So there weren’t a lot of expectations; we couldn’t fail. It will be the same story [against Duke].”