With a season-high 19 goals, the James Madison women’s lacrosse team held off a second-half charge from Rutgers to win its seventh game in a row with a 19-14 victory over the Scarlet Knights on Saturday afternoon on Friends of Jaclyn Day at University Park.
The win moves JMU to 7-1 on the year and drops Rutgers to 1-7 on the 2015 campaign. Having posted seven wins in a row, the streak marks the second-longest winning streak in Head Coach Shelley Klaes-Bawcombe‘s tenure, which dates back to 2007.
Led by five goals and three assists for a career-high eight points from redshirt-sophomore attacker Betsy Angel, the 19-goal outpour from JMU is the most goals in a game since Madison scored 20 against San Diego State on March 29, 2014. Coincidentally, the contest against San Diego State was the Friends of Jaclyn Day celebration for JMU during the 2014 season.
Helping Angel lead the JMU attack was junior midfielder Jaci Gordon with a career-high four goals to go with one assist. Seniors Stephanie Finley and Alison Curwin each scored three goals while Finley also added two assists and three draw controls. Junior midfielder Taylor Gress notched two goals, two caused turnovers and three draw controls while junior midfielder Brooks Lawler and sophomore attacker Cristina McCarthy rounded out the scoring, as Lawler finished with one goal, one assist and two draw controls while McCarthy scored her first goal of the season. Junior defender Carter Reifsnider also picked up a career-high three ground balls in the victory.
After JMU scored the first two goals of the contest, Rutgers went on a 3-0 run to take its only lead of the game at 3-2 with 19:12 left in the first half. The Dukes then rattled off a 5-0 run with goals from five different players to go up 7-3 with 4:09 to play in the half.
Following a Rutgers goal with 3:19 to go in the first half, JMU went on another 5-0 run spanning the two halves for a 10-1 run lasting more than 21 minutes of game action to take a commanding 12-4 lead with 26:08 remaining.
Trading three goals apiece through a 10-minute span in the middle of the second half, Rutgers started a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to two at 15-13 with 7:03 remaining in the game. Gress broke the run with 5:48 remaining to put the Dukes up 16-13. The goal spurred a 4-1 run to close the contest.
The Scarlet Knights were led by Lauren Sbrilli, who notched five goals on the afternoon, three of which were during the 6-0 run in the second half. Kristina Dunphey scored three goals while tallying five assists while Kim Kolodny, Kerri Puckhaber and Macy Scott each tallied twice in the loss.
JMU outshot Rutgers 35-33 and won the draw control battle 19-15 in the win. The Dukes were stellar on free position shots, going 5-of-7 from close-range.
Madison looks to continue its seven-game winning streak on Wednesday night, March 18, at University Park when it welcomes No. 8 Virginia. After avenging an 8-7 loss to the Scarlet Knights on Saturday, JMU will look to avenge a 12-10 loss last year to the Cavaliers with first draw set for 7 p.m.
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