Dukes Pull Away Late for 16-11 Triumph at Rutgers

Saturday, March 19

Piscataway, N.J.

Noon

James Madison University

4-5

Rutgers

2-7

James Madison

Rutgers

3/19/2016 3:31:00 PM | Lacrosse

Box Score

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – James Madison broke a 10-10 tie by scoring six of the game's final seven goals to earn a 16-11 non-conference women's lacrosse victory at Rutgers on Saturday afternoon at High Point Solutions Stadium.

The Dukes won their second straight, improving to 4-5, this season while the Scarlet Knights fell to 2-7.

Senior midfielder Jaci Gordon tied her career high with a team-best four goals while senior attacker Betsy Angel produced a team-high five points off three goals and two assists. Senior midfielder Taylor Gress scored a season-best three goals and junior attacker Margaret Tucker Fogarty and sophomore midfielder Elena Romesburg both netted a pair of tallies.

Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Kaitlin Martindale came off the bench to earn the winning decision after making four saves on 12 shots on goal in her 40 minutes of action. She also led the Dukes with three ground balls, which tied for game-high honors. Romesburg and sophomore midfielder Haley Warden accounted for a combined seven draw controls while senior defender Alex Revel caused a career-high two turnovers.

JMU outshot Rutgers 27-24, including 23-16 in shots on goal. The Dukes won the battle in the midfield with 15 draw controls, as opposed to the Knights' 13, and held an 11-8 advantage in ground balls. Both teams did well in transition as JMU was 12-for-13 in clears and RU was 10-for-11.

Rutgers was paced by Abigail Lee Brooks, who scored a game-best five goals. Kristina Dunphey had two goals and two assists while Halley Barnes netted two goals.

Trailing 6-4 in the first half, Rutgers put together a 3-0 run late in the first half to gain a 7-6 lead with 3:22 remaining in the stanza. The Dukes answered right before the break with a free-position goal from Gordon to tie the game at 7-7.

The Dukes opened the second with two in a row to jump ahead 9-7 with 24:51 left but RU scored three of four to knot the game at 10 apiece with 14:50 on the clock. JMU's defense locked down the RU attack, conceding just one goal the rest of the way. Fogarty sparked JMU's offense, as she scored two goals on JMU's 3-0 surge to grab the lead for good at 13-10 with 9:48 to play. After Brooks scored for the hosts with 7:53 remaining, Gordon and Angel put the game away as the duo scored the game's final three goals in the last 3:32.

QUOTING COACH KLAES-BAWCOMBE
"We've been really working hard to have a strong second-half mentality and our team showed great poise and control to get the win. We made defensive stops when needed and we were able to control the ball on attack, and that's what we had been struggling with. I'm really proud of this team's resilience today and to get the draws and finish on attack when the game was on the line."

FOGARTY SPARKS SECOND-HALF RUN
Margaret Tucker Fogarty keyed JMU's 6-1 run in the second half as the junior scored both of her goals less than four minutes apart to give the Dukes a 13-10 lead. Her goal total was also a career high, having scored one goal in six separate games prior to today.

MARTINDALE GETS WIN IN RELIEF
JMU has gone back-and-forth with playing time for goalkeepers Ellie Harmeyer and Kaitlin Martindale this season. Harmeyer started the game but Martindale came in with 10 minutes to go in the half. In her 40+ minutes of action, Martindale made four saves on 12 shots on goal from Rutgers and also collected three ground balls to aid in the victory.

SENIOR CAPTAINS SHUT THE DOOR ON RUTGERS
After Rutgers scored its final goal with 7:53 left, JMU seniors Jaci Gordon and Betsy Angel took over. Gordon found space in the middle of the attacking zone and scored with 3:32 to play and Angel followed that up with an empty-net goal with 1:29 to go. Gordon capped off the game by scoring her fourth of the game with one second left, with the assist being credited to Angel.

UP NEXT
JMU returns to action on Wednesday, March 23 when it travels to Charlottesville, Va., to face ninth-ranked Virginia. First draw is set for 7 p.m.