Anchored by a season-high 12 saves by senior goalie Schylar Healy, the 15th-ranked James Madison women’s lacrosse team won its fifth game in a row Friday night with a 10-5 victory over Richmond at Robins Stadium.
The win moves JMU to 5-1 on the year while Richmond’s brief two-game winning streak comes to an end, as the Spiders fall to 3-4.
Holding Richmond to five goals while keeping the Spiders off the board for 32:42 of game action over the course of the two halves, the five goals is the lowest total the Dukes have allowed since April 21, 2013, when JMU closed the regular season with a 17-2 win over Old Dominion. Healy’s .706 save percentage in the game shattered her previous career best, which was a mark of .588 set last month against Virginia Tech.
Trading goals throughout the first 19 minutes of the contest, Richmond held a 3-2 lead until sophomore midfielder Taylor Gress scored to knot the game for the final time. The goal started a 5-0 run for the Dukes spanning23:47 of action from 7:18 left in the first half to 13:31 remaining in the second half, building a 7-3 lead for JMU.
Down the stretch with 4:25 to play, Anna Jeszeck Kim Egizi scored as Richmond cut the JMU lead to 7-5, but the Dukes tallied three goals over the final 1:58 to end the Spiders’ comeback hopes.
Gress and redshirt-sophomore Betsy Angel led the way for Madison with three goals apiece. Junior midfielder Jaci Gordon notched one goal and a career-high tying three assists, two of which went to Angel, for a game-high four points. Gress also collected a career-high tying three ground balls while both Healy and senior defender Lexi Cross each added three ground balls to the cause. Gress and Angel were the only two JMU players to score multiple goals in the win while freshman midfielder Elena Romesburg tallied her first collegiate goal on a free position shot in the second half.
Kim Egizi scored two of Richmond’s five goals while the Dukes held Emily Doyle off the scoresheet, as she took six shots but was only allowed one assist in the contest. Doyle scored six goals last time out against Old Dominion on Wednesday night.
The Dukes outshot Richmond 23-17, which included a 12-5 advantage in the second half after the Spiders held a slight 12-11 advantage in the category at the break. Madison also won the draw control battle 10-7.
JMU will finish its three-game roadtrip on Wednesday, March 11, when it travels to University Park, Pa., to take on No. 9 Penn State at 4 p.m. Last year, the Dukes beat then-No. 9 Penn State 11-10 at home at University Park.
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Chris Graham
