#20 JMU Rolls Past Virginia Tech, 18-5, for First Win

Thursday, February 18

Harrisonburg, Va.

4 p.m.

James Madison University

1-1

Virginia Tech

3-2

Virginia Tech

James Madison

2/18/2016 6:30:00 PM | Lacrosse

Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va. – Senior attacker Betsy Angel scored four goals and four assists and 20th-ranked James Madison used several scoring runs to cruise past Virginia Tech 18-5 on Thursday evening at University Park.

The Dukes evened their record to 1-1 on the season while the Hokies fell to 3-2 on the year. JMU has now won all 14 meetings in the series against Virginia Tech.

Angel's four goals were one shy of her career high while her four assists and eight points tied her single-game career bests. Junior attacker Cristina McCarthy notched three goals and an assist for a career-best four points while senior midfielder Brooks Lawler produced her first career hat trick with three goals. Junior attacker Leah Monticello also had a career day with four assists, doubling her previous game best.

JMU dominated Tech in the shots department, outshooting the Hokies 34-13, including a 24-12 margin in shots on goal. JMU held a 15-9 advantage on the draw control and an 18-14 edge in ground balls. In what turned out to be a physical game, it produced 29 total turnovers, 15 by Tech and 14 by JMU.

Sophomore goalkeeper Kaitlin Martindale recorded her first career win in the cage after making seven saves on 12 shots on goal for a .583 save percentage. Hannah Sieger took the loss for the Hokies after conceding 18 of 24 shots she faced. The Hokies had five different goal scorers and none reached double-digit points while JMU had eight players with two or more points.

The Dukes opened the game with five straight goals in just over 10 minutes, with Angel having her stick involved on four of them, scoring two while assisting on two more. After VT got on the board halfway through the first, JMU scored four more in just over three minutes to snag a 9-1 advantage with 8:44 to go.

Trailing 10-2 at the break, Tech scored three of four to climb to within 11-5 but the host Dukes poured on eight in a row over the final 20 minutes for the 13-goal victory. Three of JMU's eight second-half tallies came during an extra-man opportunity.

QUOTING COACH KLAES-BAWCOMBE
"We're really proud of our team's effort today. Virginia Tech has been getting better and better every year, so for us to be able to produce the level of play we did today is attributed to our team's preparation going into the game."

DUKES HAVE RECORD-SETTING PERFORMANCES
Several JMU players had career highs in Thursday's win over Virginia Tech. The game's leading scorer, Betsy Angel, tied her career bests with four assists and eight points. Cristina McCarthy tied her career high with three goals and set a new high in points, with four. Brooks Lawler had a career-best three goals and tied her single-game point total with three. Leah Monticello (4 assists) and Kristen Gaudian (2 points) notched new career highs while Elena Romesburg tied her career best (2 points).

PHOTO OF THE GAME

NETTING THEIR FIRST CAREER GOALS
Two Dukes scored their first career goals in the second half of JMU's win as Hannah Jablonski scored an extra-man tally with 6:42 remaining while Anne Zabel found the cage with just 14 seconds left.

NEXT UP
JMU hits the road for the first time this season on Sunday, Feb. 21 when they take on Connecticut in Storrs, Conn. That matchup opens a four-game road trip for the Dukes.