The No. 12 Virginia women’s lacrosse team (9-7) fell 15-10 to No. 4 James Madison (14-1) on Wednesday night in the final regular season home game at Klöckner Stadium.
Virginia fell behind early and trailed 6-2 at halftime. The Cavaliers were down 8-3 when they used a 4-1 run to cut it to 9-6 with 24:25 to play. After another run by the Dukes, UVA scored three straight runs to close it to 13-9 with 8:46 to play but could not get any closer as JMU took the 15-10 win.
“We played well in stretches, but not consistently enough and in enough spots,” head coach Julie Myers said. “That first half with only two goals haunted us a little bit. We knew this was going to be a great matchup. JMU is having a great year and they proved they can continue to do that tonight.”
Senior Kasey Behr (Northport, N.Y.) led UVA with three goals, while junior Maggie Jackson (Alexandria, Va.) had four points with three assists and one goal. Junior Avery Shoemaker (Wyndmoor, Pa.) and sophomore Sammy Mueller (Pelham, N.Y.) each added two goals. Kristen Gaudian led JMU with five goals.
Both teams finished with 30 shots. Virginia led 25-21 in ground balls and had a 14-13 edge in draw controls. JMU had 12 saves to 10 for the Cavaliers. UVA scored three free position goals to one for JMU.
After going down 5-0 with 10:00 to go in the first half, UVA was on the board when Behr scored on the assist from Jackson. The Cavaliers scored again when Jackson found the net on the assist from freshman Taylor Regan (Larchmont, N.Y.). JMU scored with seven seconds to go to lead 6-2 at halftime.
Out of the break JMU extended its lead to 8-2. Shoemaker converted a free position shot with 28:14 to play to cut it to 8-3. JMU scored to lead 9-3. Mueller had her first goal of the game with the assist from Shoemaker to spark a 3-0 run. Senior Ana Hagerup (Washington, D.C.) found freshman Chloe Jones (Slingerlands, N.Y.) who scored then Jackson connected with Behr for a goal to cut it to 9-6 with 24:25 to play.
The Cavaliers trailed 13-6 after a 4-0 run for JMU. Regan scored on a free position to start another run for UVA. Shoemaker scored on another free position and Mueller scored with the assist from Jackson to make it 13-9 with 8:46 remaining. JMU would stretch its lead to 15-9 with two goals. Behr completed her hat trick with a goal at 3:40 but UVA could not get any closer.
Virginia will close out the regular season on Saturday at Virginia Tech at 1 p.m. in a Commonwealth Clash game. The game will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra.
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Chris Graham
