Richmond misses opportunities in loss to James Madison

James Madison University was able to convert three out of its four penalty corners to defeat the University of Richmond field hockey team 3-0.

JMU junior Dolores de Rooij scored all three of her team's goals off of the penalty corner. Freshman Vivienne Konijnendijk assisted all of de Rooij's goals.

"James Madison executed its penalty corners and that's a big advantage in field hockey," Richmond coach Gina Lucido said.

The Spiders had some bad breaks go against them on the second and third goals. The second goal appeared to get deflected right in front of Richmond senior goalie Jacki Raithel. The third goal was lobbed over Raithel to raise de Rooij's season goal total to seven.

Richmond had its own chances but was unable to convert any of them. Two Richmond goals were waved off, including one off of a penalty corner that was too high. In total, Richmond had eight penalty corners and 12 shots.

"We had more shots than them," senior Sarah Blythe-Wood said. "We had more penalty corners than them. We had the opportunities and didn't convert them."

Blythe-Wood said that the team could overcome its troubles with the corners and start to convert them.

"We have to keep it simple," she said. "We've over-analyzed corners recently."

The offensive output was a stark contrast to the Spiders' last game, in which they tied a school-record with 12 goals during their win against Saint Louis University of Friday.

"We definitely knew that there were two different types of games that we were facing," Lucido said. "We knew that James Madison was a solid team all around. ... I knew going into it that it was going to be a challenge to put points on the board."

The defense had another strong game for Richmond. The Spiders held JMU to only six shots and met its pre-game goal of limiting JMU to only four penalty corners.

"We held them in game play in our defensive end," Lucido said. "But you see how lethal teams can be. All it takes is four corners and they score three goals on it."

Richmond fell back under .500 with a 6-7 record. The Spiders resume their Atlantic-10 Conference play when they host La Salle University at 3:30 p.m. on Friday.

Contact staff writer Andrew Prezioso at andrew.prezioso@richmond.edu