MAC Friday: UMass Ends JMU’s Title-Share Hopes, Ball State Wins a Double-OT Shootout Thriller
Two MAC games on Friday, two very different kinds of drama.
In Amherst, No. 4 Massachusetts just wore James Madison down. It was scoreless after the first quarter, and JMU’s defence held firm for a long time. Then the MAC’s scoring leader, Niamh McKenzie, broke through in the 28th minute, stabbing home a feed from Megan Carpender, and the game changed. UMass added two more in the fourth quarter, both from penalty corners, through Elani Sherwood and Neva Eisenga, and that was that: 3-0. The shot count told the story, 12-5 to UMass, and the corners 7-3. JMU goalkeeper Hannah Popolis made three saves in her first start of the season, but the Dukes could not find a way through at the other end.
The result ends JMU’s hopes of a share of the MAC regular-season championship. The Dukes finish the regular season 8-8 overall and 7-2 in conference play, and they will be the No. 3 seed in the MAC tournament. They face No. 6 Ohio in the quarter-finals on Wednesday 4 November at 2:30pm ET at the Miami Field Hockey Complex in Oxford, Ohio.
In Louisville, Ball State closed its season the hard way and loved every minute of it. The Cardinals outlasted Saint Louis 1-0 in a double-overtime shootout thriller at Trager Stadium, a neutral-site game that stayed scoreless through 60 minutes of regulation and two full 10-minute golden-goal overtime periods. Saint Louis goalkeeper grit forced the shootout, and Ball State held its nerve to win it 2-1.
It caps a remarkable late-season turnaround. Ball State finish 7-11 overall, but they won their last four straight: Ohio 4-3, Queens 4-1, Bellarmine 2-1 in overtime, and now Saint Louis. The Cardinals edged the shot count 14-13, put seven of their 14 shots on target, and threw six shots at Saint Louis in both the fourth quarter and the first overtime. Four wins in a row to close the year is the kind of momentum a programme builds a whole off-season on.
Related:
- https://sportscursor.com/princeton-3-1-columbia-ivy-title-share-yale-harvard-31-october-2026/
- https://sportscursor.com/towson-5-2-hofstra-caa-finale-delaware-halloween-31-october-2026/
- https://sportscursor.com/big-ten-tournament-bracket-rutgers-indiana-maryland-ohio-state-penn-state-iowa-31-october-2026/
- https://sportscursor.com/latest-news/
