No. 14 Virginia wins 5-2 against James Madison

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

The No. 14 Virginia field hockey team (5-9) picked up a 5-2 victory against James Madison (1-1) in both teams’ lone non-conference game of the 2020-21 season on Sunday at Turf Field in Charlottesville.

Virginia built up a 4-0 advantage midway through the third quarter. After James Madison scored back-to-back goals early in the fourth quarter, UVA regained its momentum with the second goal of the day by sophomore midfielder Adele Iacobucci (Malvern, Pa.).

Junior back Amber Ezechiels (Niew-Vennep, Netherlands) had a goal and two assists.

Virginia got on the board in the final minute of the first quarter when junior midfielder Peyton Tollaksen (Chesapeake, Va.) took advantage of the JMU keeper being out of the cage, knocking in a pass from freshman Anneloes Knol (Utrecht, Netherlands) into the empty net.

Ezechiels made it a 2-0 advantage in the second quarter when she converted a penalty stroke, the advantage UVA still held at the break.

In the third quarter, UVA scored twice off penalty corners, both off deflections after hits from the top of the circle by Ezechiels. Iacobucci scored the first one with 10:34 remaining in the period while junior midfielder Annie McDonough (Kennett Square, Pa.) redirected the second with 5:39 remaining.

The Dukes found their offense in the fourth quarter, scoring off of back-to-back penalty corners in the first three minutes of period to half the deficit.

JMU had another prime scoring opportunity midway through the fourth when the Cavaliers had players issued back-to-back yellow cards, giving the Dukes a two-player-up advantage. It was Virginia that scored, however, with Iacobucci scoring on a breakaway to make it a 5-2 game.