After capturing their third Colonial Athletic Association title in six years, No. 17 James Madison lacrosse will travel to Durham, North Carolina to take on Southern California, Friday, May 8 at 7 p.m. in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. The Dukes (15-4) earned the league’s automatic bid after defeating fourth-seeded Towson, 13-6, in the CAA Championship in Newark, Del., earlier today.
An at-large selection into the field. USC (13-5) lost 16-11 to No. 15 Stanford in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship, May 3. This was the first time for the third-year program in the championship game as the Women of Troy have already posted a school-record 13 wins and eight league victories. The Trojans are led by sophomore attacker Michaela Michael, who has scored 56 goals and added 12 assists and 108 draw controls in 18 games. Junior attacker Caroline de Lyra also had 34 goals, while junior midfielder Amanda Johansen has 38 goals on the year. Between the pipes, freshman Gussie Johns has started all 18 matches and has a 8.16 goals against average and 94 saves on the year.
The two team have one common opponent this year – Liberty. USC defeated the Lady Flames 20-6 on March 9, while the Dukes handled LU 18-5 on March 25. Four JMU opponents are in the NCAA field, with Madison having a 2-2 record against that group, losing to No. 1 national seed Maryland and No. 7 Virginia and defeating Loyola Maryland and Penn State.
This will be JMU’s first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2011 and 12th overall in program history, as the Dukes first played in the event in 1995. The winner will take on No. 3 seed Duke on Sunday, May 10 at 2 p.m.
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Chris Graham
