National-Champion Dukes to Face World Champs in Team USA Fall Classic

SPARKS, Md. – Fresh off a historic season, resulting in the program's first national championship, James Madison will face the United States Women's National Team on Saturday, October 6 as Part of the 2018 Team USA Fall Classic at the US Lacrosse Headquarters.

The Dukes hit the field with the country's premier athletes at 3 p.m. in the second game of a doubleheader at Tierney Field. They follow a matchup featuring NCAA champion Yale and the U.S. Men's National Team.

"This is what we've always dreamed of at James Madison, to put our team up against the best," Head Coach Shelley Klaes-Bawcombe said. "It's an unbelievable opportunity that we've worked hard to attain. JMU has always understood the importance of developing our athlete for the next level. We have a great relationship with the US Lacrosse program, and to compete against them on this day makes our program that much more comfortable and familiar with the developmental system."

"We are very humbled to be able to play in this game," senior attacker Hanna Haven said. "We didn't know being the reigning national champions would give us this opportunity. It's incredible, they're the best team. We are national champions, they are world champions. It's exciting that they want to give us this opportunity to play them."

JMU is coming off its most successful season in history, going 22-1 en route to capturing the NCAA Division I national championship.

The Dukes won their second straight Colonial Athletic Association crown and earned the No. 3 seed for the NCAA Championship. After knocking off Virginia and sixth-seeded Florida at home, JMU upended second-seeded North Carolina in the national semifinals before holding off fourth-seeded Boston College to win the national title back in May.

Klaes-Bawcombe is the reigning IWLCA National Coach of the Year and is the program's all-time winningest coach (151-75). She enters her 13th season at the helm this coming season and returns three All-CAA honorees in Haven, redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Molly Dougherty and senior defender Caroline Sdanowich.

"This is an opportunity to play elite level lacrosse," Klaes-Bawcombe said. "It will test our speed, our strength, our skill and our decision making. We'll see where we need to grow as a program in 2019."

"Hopefully we'll be able to hold our own against them and show them why we were the best in the nation this past year," Haven said. "It's going to help our new and young players. To open our fall season against this competition will prepare them for what our 2019 schedule entails, competing against some of the best teams in the country."

The U.S. Women's Team won both the FIL World Cup in England and the International World Games Championship in Poland back in 2017 and will make its debut under new Head Coach Jenny Levy, who is also head coach at UNC.

"How often do you get to see two world championship and two NCAA championship teams compete at the same venue on the same day? It's a pretty remarkable experience," Director of National Teams Skip Lichtfuss said in a US Lacrosse press release. "We're very excited to bring these four teams together in one setting."

Tickets are available for $15 in advance and $20 at the gate, with proceeds benefitting the U.S. National Teams Program.

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