Kent State Field Hockey Drops Nail-Biter with James Madison

Sunday, September 27

Harrisonburg, Va.

12:00 p.m.

Kent State University

(2-8, 1-2)

James Madison

(2-6, 2-1)

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Kent St.	0	1	0	0	1
James Madison	0	1	1	0	2

Riley Welsch and Lauren Conroy backpeddaling in a game. Michaela Skinner looks on in the distance from inside the goal

Kent State Field Hockey Drops Nail-Biter with James Madison

9/27/2026 2:45:00 PM | Field Hockey

Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va. – The Kent State Field Hockey team lost a very close game 1-2 to Mid-American Conference (MAC) opponent James Madison on the road on Sunday afternoon.

The Golden Flashes were coming off a five game homestand of which they went 2-3 and positioned themselves in the middle of the MAC standings. Kent State fought hard against James Madison, consistently getting fast break opportunities on offense while limiting JMU's penalty corner execution on defense.

Statistically, the Golden Flashes tallied just four shots less than the Dukes, while operating at a slight 4-5 shots on goal disadvantage. The offensive attack was a huge improvement for Kent State compared to their previous loss against Massachusetts.

Kent State was also able to control possession a lot better against James Madison than in Friday's matchup with UMass. A big part of this change was Kent State had seven less fouls than James Madison in the game and limited their turnovers on fast break attempts.

The improved offensive tactics allowed for Kent State to take a 1-0 lead at the beginning of the second quarter. Senior midfielder/forward Eva Usoz notched her 5^th goal of the season, slapping a shot at the top of the circle created from a fast break assist by Alexa Knott. Usoz' goal improves her status in the MAC leaderboard with the 6^th most goals scored in the conference. She also now has over half of the goals for the Golden Flashes this season.

The smooth pass by sophomore back Alexa Knott was her first assist since transferring from Iowa to Kent State at the beginning of the season. The Cape Town, South Africa native has seen a considerable increase in playing time over the last few weeks and has created a dynamic duo of sophomore defenders off the bench with Roos ten Pas.

However, just 75 seconds after the Usoz goal, James Madison's Sydney Raguini sped down the sideline and scored an unassisted goal to tie the game at one apiece. Raguini has been one of the top offensive performers for the Dukes this season and she was a big factor in their win against the Golden Flashes.

Five minutes into the second half, Raguini helped break the tie by hitting a nice crossing pass to teammate Avery Ruckman, which she put in the back of the net for the eventual game-winning goal. Ruckman has been one of the best midfielders for JMU this year and she has two goals in the last three games.

Although Kent State had some chances in the third and fourth quarters to score, they weren't able to execute enough to tie the game back up. James Madison escaped with the 2-1 victory as the Golden Flashes played well in the close loss.

Up Next

The Golden Flashes face the Bellarmine Knights next Friday, Oct. 2 at home for their fourth conference game of the season. Kent State will try to improve to .500 in the MAC to start off their loaded schedule in the month of October.

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