Dukes break losing streak

Chris Labzda / senior photographer Redshirt freshman back Courtney Remington and the Dukes won their second game Saturday.

The JMU women’s field hockey team won their second game of the year Saturday, defeating Radford University 3-1 at the JMU Field Hockey Complex. Senior forward Alissa Santanna led the Dukes with two goals, and sophomore midfielder Baillie Versfield added a goal and an assist in the win.

"We won — we came out on top, but it wasn’t even necessarily our best game," Santanna said. "Everybody stepped up and played through. We definitely had times where we dropped off, but all in all, I think that was probably one of our better offensive games."

It was an offensive-minded game for the Dukes, who had 20 shots on goal to Radford’s 11.

"I think we did generate quite a bit of attack, which was good," coach Antoinette Lucas said.

Lucas also said she was impressed with several players, specifically Versfeld and Santanna.

"You can count on Versfeld from game to game," she said. "And the same with Alissa, so it’s not a surprise to me that they’re the ones scoring."

The first half ended tied at 1-1. Versfeld’s goal put JMU on the board first with 20:54 remaining. Both teams had four penalty corners and four saves in the first half.

On Radford’s third consecutive penalty corner, the ball sailed into the net, but was too high and ruled a dangerous hit. Radford connected on a shot by junior Hope Bates with 4:20 to play.

Lucas was impressed with Radford’s play.

"I think they’re (Radford) a nice team," she said. "They play very well together and they play hard. They’re well-coached."

Santanna attributed the offensive outburst to better teamwork.

"I really think that we had key people step up all over the field;" Santanna said. "Yesterday we had a good practice. We’re working on working with each other and working off the ball, and that kind of stuff. I really just felt like there was support all over the field and communication."

JMU scored in the second half as freshman Lauren Stefaniak assisted Santanna to put the Dukes up 2-1. With 2:35 to play in the game, Versfeld recorded an assist for Santanna’s second goal.

"I thought we did well as a team," Versfeld said. "We had bit of a slump there in the second half, but we came out of that and we played well."

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