JMU Falls 9-8 in Historical NCAA First-Round Game to #9 Stanford

Friday, May 13

Los Angeles, Calif.

6 p.m. ET

James Madison University

10-10

Stanford

15-4

James Madison

Stanford

JMU Falls 9-8 in Historical NCAA First-Round Game to #9 Stanford

5/13/2016 9:00:00 PM | Lacrosse

Box Score

LOS ANGELES – James Madison overcame an early 6-2 deficit but a three-goal spurt late in the second half by ninth-ranked Stanford was enough to hand the Dukes a 9-8 loss in the first round of the 2016 NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship on Friday afternoon at the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

The Dukes ended their season at 10-10 overall while the Cardinal improved to 15-4, advancing to Sunday's second round to face unbeaten and fifth-ranked USC (19-0). This game was the first NCAA Championship game to ever be played on the West Coast and in the LA Coliseum.

Senior attacker Brooks Lawler led the Dukes with two goals and one assist, while senior attacker Betsy Angel found the back of the cage twice. Senior midfielder Taylor Gress and sophomore midfielder Elena Romesburg both notched a goal and assist, and sophomore attacker Katie Kerrigan dished out a career-best two assists.

Defensively, sophomore defender Rebecca Tooker had a career-high five caused turnovers. Gress led the midfield with four draw-control wins, while freshman goalkeeper Ellie Harmeyer was solid between the pipes, making eight saves on 17 shots on goal. Seven of her eight stops occurred on Stanford free-position opportunities, in which the Cardinal went just 1-for-9 as a team.

Stanford outshot JMU 20-13 (17-11 on goal) for the game. The Cardinal won six of seven draw controls for an 11-8 edge during the entirety of regulation and had 13 ground balls, to Madison's 10.

The Cardinal was paced by Elizabeth Cusick, who score five points off a game-best four goals and an assist. Mackenzie Tesei had a pair of scores and Kelsey Murray tallied two helpers.

Trailing 6-2, the Dukes held the Cardinal without a single goal for a 30-minute span to bridge the halves. JMU struck for three straight in less than a four-minute period to climb to within a goal at 6-5 at the break. Both defenses clamped down for much of the second half as the score stayed the same until Kerrigan fed a pass inside the 8-meter to Angel, who scored the game-tying goal with 12:22 left.

Stanford used three straight draw-control wins to score three in a row in a span of 95 seconds to gain a 9-6 lead with 9:50 to play. The Dukes answered back as Gress fired a shot for the goal off a pass from Lawler make it a 9-7 game with 7:58 left. Working behind the cage, Kerrigan found an open Gordon over the middle, and she whistled her shot past the Stanford keeper to climb to within a goal with 3:01 left.

After Stanford won the ensuing draw control, the Dukes nearly forced turnovers on two separate occasions in the final minute but the Cardinal was able to run out the clock to advance in the tournament.

COACH KLAES-BAWCOMBE POSTGAME

ANOTHER ONE-GOAL BATTLE BETWEEN JMU AND STANFORD
Stanford tied up the all-time series with JMU at 3-3 with today's 9-8 win. For the fifth time in sixth meetings it came down to being a one-goal game. Ironically, the score today matched the teams' other NCAA meeting, a 9-8 JMU win back on May 15, 2010 in Harrisonburg.

SENIORS LEAVE LEGACY
The eight-member senior class played their final game today as JMU student-athletes. The group took JMU to a pair of NCAA Championships, won the 2015 CAA title and completed their careers with a 47-28 record, including a stellar 20-4 mark in conference play.

AN ANGEL THE FIRST TO SCORE IN THE CITY OF ANGELS
JMU took an early 1-0 lead and the first score in the first tournament game in the City of Angels was an Angel - senior Betsy Angel.

ELLIE A BRICK WALL ON FREE POSITION
Ellie Harmeyer put up some pretty solid numbers in cage when it comes to free-position opportunities. The Cardinal was just 1-for-9 on the 8-meter shots, due to Harmeyer making seven stops, while another whistled wide after Taylor Gress put her stick on the ball to deflect it.

TOOKER A MASTER OF CAUSING HAVOC
Rebecca Tooker was a force in the defensive third as the sophomore tallied five caused turnovers in Friday's first round. That bested her previous high of three back on March 9 against Penn State. Tooker's physicality allowed for JMU to erase a four-goal deficit, holding Stanford without a goal for exactly 30 minutes (11:25 1st to 11:25 2nd).

SENIORS POSTGAME