This past Saturday (1 Feb 2020), James Madison welcomed fellow Northeast Team Handball League foes Pittsburgh and Virginia for D2 South Division match play.
Match 1: Pittsburgh 18, James Madison 17
In the first match of the day Pittsburgh edged James Madison 18 to 17. This was a closer score than their previous meeting in November, a 22-17 victory for Pittsburgh, so perhaps JMU is narrowing the gap. Freshman, Pau Sanchez, led Pitt in scoring with 6 goals, while Nick Kocher added 5 and Dylan Baird 4. James Madison was led in scoring by Nick Federovitch and Keith Plunkett who both netted 6 goals.
Video: Bryan Cothorn interviews JMU’s Nick Federovitch after the match (Note: Audio is lost about halfway through): Link
Match 2: Pittsburgh 23, Virginia 17
Match 2 saw Pittsburgh easily take care of Virginia. Pittsburgh led 12-6 at the half and kept that lead for a 23-17 victory. Brian Hoover led a balanced scoring attack with 4 goals with 5 other Pitt players netting 3 goals a piece. Zachary Palas led Virginia’s scoring with 5 goals.
Video: Bryan Cothorn interviews Virginia’s Ashton Emmanuel and Pittsburgh’s Brian Hoover and Pau Sanchez: Link
Match 3: James Madison 26, Virginia 25
The final match of the day was a tight affair throughout. The teams were tied 12-12 at the break and James Madison ended up winning the match 26-25. TC Nance led JMU scoring with 7 goals and Kevin Plunkett added 6. Virginia’s attack was led by Ben Kilpatrick (9 goals) and Lincoln Ambrose (8)
Video: Bryan Cothorn interviews Virginia’s Ben Kilpatrick to talk about the match, Virginia’s program and the Jay Cutler/Handball controversy: Link
Video: Bryan Cothorn interviews JMU’s Tom Fonti to talk about the match and his game winning goal: Link
Pittsburgh is undefeated in league play and barring a melt down on the final match day of the season they should win the D2 South title. Both JMU and Virginia will be headed to Chapel Hill, NC for the annual Carolina Blue Cup on 14-16 February, and all 3 teams are planning to attend College Nationals on 3-5 April in Columbus, OH.
2nd Team Matches (North Carolina vs James Madison)
North Carolina’s 2nd Team made the journey north to take on James Madison’s 2nd Team. The Tar Heels were dominant in both matches winning the first match, 24-8, and the second match, 22-12. North Carolina’s Joe Reinhardt scored 11 goals in the first match and Alex Irmscher had 8 goals in the two matches.
Video: Post Game Interviews with North Carolina’s Ross Whipkey and Joe Reinhardt and JMU’s Nick Lapchak: Link
Video: Post Game Interviews with JMU’s David Marzi and North Carolina’s Zak Hudspeth: Link
