{"id":9518,"date":"2017-07-23T19:15:26","date_gmt":"2017-07-23T23:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=9518"},"modified":"2017-07-23T19:15:26","modified_gmt":"2017-07-23T23:15:26","slug":"usa-field-hockey-featuring-former-dukes-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=9518","title":{"rendered":"USA Field Hockey Featuring Former Dukes’ Star"},"content":{"rendered":"

So we don’t know a lot<\/del> hardly a thing about international field hockey besides the fact that it’s huge in other places like Europe and South Africa and that all the countries that are considered “powers” take the men’s game as seriously as the women’s unlike us Yanks. But we do know that one of our all time favorite JMU athletes, Taylor West, the superstar of the Coach Lucas years and a player that truly bleeds purple, is now on the US Women’s National Team. And not only is she on this developing program (we may be wrong, but our hockey team seems roughly equivalent to our Men’s Soccer team on the international front – dangerous but not quite on the world’s upper-upper echelon just yet), just a year or two our out of Harrisonburg, she’s quickly turning into one of the squad’s stalwarts.<\/p>\n

\"Before

Before They Were Stars JMU Edition (although she was already a star!)<\/p><\/div>\n

This weekend, the USA beat the Germans 3-2 in Johannesburg, South Africa <\/a>to win something called the FIH World Hockey League Semis. We don’t know exactly what that means, but we do know the USA avenged both losses it suffered in last summer’s Olympic games in this tourney.<\/p>\n

And oh yeah, guess who scored the USA’s first goal to tie the game and build the squad’s confidence after a shaky start? You’re damned right it was the Duke Dog Taylor West! The National Team’s next action will be in two weeks in Pennsylvania in the Pan American Cup<\/a> (where just like in soccer they’ll be much more heavily favored against the teams from our own hemisphere). And if things keep progressing for Taylor, JMU may get to claim not just an Olympian in 2020, but one of the true stars on a medal-contending team.<\/p>\n

One more thing, the program back in the ‘Burg that gave our favorite place on Earth it’s first National Championship back when football titles seemed unimaginable is on the rise again. The Dukes lost in the CAA final last year 3-1 to Delaware. Yes, we hate the Blue Chickens and yes the CAA title often seems like winning the “developmental meet” for JMU, but just consider that UD went on to win the whole darned shooting match by winning the NCAA tourney. Needless to say, our hopes are as high for field hockey this year as they are for ANY other sport.<\/p>\n