FARMVILLE, Va. – Longwood field hockey showed plenty of grit on Friday and battled for 60 minutes against the top team in the MAC in James Madison.
 
Sophie Mooldijk made eight saves in the cage for the Lancers (4-12, 2-6 MAC), including a penalty stroke, but JMU (13-4, 7-0 MAC) stayed unbeaten in conference play behind two goals from Cassidy Strittmatter.
 

SCORE	1	2	3	4	FINAL
JMU	0	1	1	0	2
LWU	0	0	0	0	0

 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 
The Lancers kept the top offense in the MAC at bay through the first quarter with a mix of heady defending and a solid press in the midfield. JMU's defense returned the favor, and neither side had a penalty corner in the first 15 minutes.
 
The story remained the same for the first few minutes of the second, but JMU finally found space and created a string of penalty corners. Ultimately, Strittmatter deflected home a ball from Alice Roeper for a 1-0 lead.
 
The Lancers remained in the hunt and continued to scrap to create chances, but nothing came to fruition. However, Longwood's defense continued to hamstring the JMU attack, and Mooldijk made a total of four saves in the half to keep the score 1-0.
 
In the third, Longwood's offense found a rhythm and earned a pair of corners. Zoe Tierney put a shot on target but was denied. JMU used a transition play the other way, and Mia Julian slipped a ball across to Strittmatter for a shot and a 2-0 lead.
 
Longwood again continued to press forward and earned two more corners in the fourth, but JMU's defense continued to stay solid to turn aside the Lancers.
 
Mooldijk, meanwhile, continued to turn aside the Dukes with four more second-half saves, including a penalty stroke on the conference's top goal-scorer, Alice Roeper, in the fourth quarter.
 
The loss knocked the Lancers out of playoff contention.
 
WHAT THEY SAID:
 
"JMU is number one in the conference right now for a reason," said Longwood Head Coach Miranda Rigg. "We did a lot of good things against them like we have all season against good opponents. Unfortunately, we didn't reward ourselves for all the hard work this year in the conference. It's tough as a coach to see us barely miss making the tournament because I truly believe this group is good enough to be there and compete. Overall, the progress from the group and style of play has been a joy to watch."
 
UP NEXT:
 
Longwood returns to the field for one final non-conference matchup when the team hosts Georgetown on Sunday afternoon. It is Senior Day at Elizabeth Burger Jackson Field, and first push is set for 1 p.m. The match will air on ESPN+.
 
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