HARRISONBURG -- Maybe it was the fact that it was a night game.Maybe it was the fact that it was also a game between two longstanding rivals.Or maybe it was the fact that Duke Dog, the JMU mascot (voted No. 1 in the country in an online poll last year) was prowling around the edge of the field encouraging everyone to do their best. Regardless, Wednesday's 1-0 Cavalier win over James Madison was no ordinary women's soccer game.
On the surface, this game seemed to have a lot in common with Sunday's match in Charlottesville. As they did Sunday, the Cavaliers managed to keep almost sole possession of the ball during the first half of last night's game. As on Sunday, the Cavaliers didn't score until very late in the game -- seven minutes remaining.And as on Sunday, substitutions were scattered profusely throughout the hour and a half.
The similarities, however, end there. The Cavaliers last night played an entirely different game than the one played Sunday. They were faster, more coordinated, but most of all, more aggressive. Virginia shot three times as much this game, was offsides more often, and racked up six fouls in the second half alone.
But the difference wasn't just in the statistics. It was visibly apparent in the way the players were going after the ball. At one point, Cavalier midfielder Sarah Huffman and JMU midfielder Vanessa Brizzi were interlocked in such a complex footwork fight over the ball that it was hard to tell one girl from the other.
Yet every time the Cavaliers pulled off a good shot, completed a perfect pass, or ran the ball down the field, there was JMU, always ready to challenge them again. In a game in which Virginia rotated five substitutes off the bench and JMU rotated six, it seemed that neither team would ever tire.
"We were ready for this game," Cavalier midfielder Kelly Hammond said. "We were pumped up."
The added aggressiveness did have some negative effects for Virginia. After Kelly Quinn took a pass from Shannon Foley and landed it in the goal with only seven minutes left in the game, it was easy to think that it was time for Cavalier fans to just sit back and relax. A series of four fouls against U.Va. in the last three minutes dispelled this notion.
"They're a big aggressive team," Hammond said. "I think that it was getting us caught into it and causing us to react."
Another problem was the frequent offsides calls that came against Virginia during the game. It seemed that every time Virginia got good momentum going, another call came in.
"A lot of teams are pushing up with us because they know our offense is pretty fast and we move the ball around easy," Quinn said. "They pull up a lot faster so we get called offsides."
In the end, Virginia walked away with its third win of the season, first on the road. As a bonus, the Cavaliers don't have another game until Sunday -- when they face off against Pennsylvania.
"We've had so any games this last week that we just haven't had a chance to train," Swanson said. "It's early, we've got a lot to work on, and I'm anxious to get back to that."
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