Women’s Lacrosse: No. 14 Virginia comeback falls short to No. 21 JMU

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

The No. 14 Virginia women’s lacrosse team (5-6) closed the game on a 5-0 run but ran out of time against No. 21 James Madison (5-4) on Sunday afternoon at Klöckner Stadium.

Freshman Rachel Clark had four goals and one assist and senior Ashlyn McGovern scored four goals to lead UVA on offense. Sophomore Aubrey Williams finished with 12 draw controls.

UVA out-shot JMU 29-27, but the Dukes had a 24-20 edge in shots on goal. UVA finished with eight saves to six for JMU. The Cavaliers led 20-14 on the draw and had six caused turnovers to three but went 7-for-17 on free positions. Isabella Peterson led JMU with six goals.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• JMU took an 8-2 lead over Virginia in the first quarter.
• The Cavaliers took advantage of the field flip to outscore the Dukes 6-2 in the second period and cut JMU’s lead to 10-8 at the half.
• JMU scored the first three goals of the third quarter and held UVA to just one as the Cavaliers trailed 13-9 heading into the final 15 minutes.
• After another 3-0 run for JMU, UVA scored four goals in a minute and 44 seconds to cut JMU’s lead to 16-13 with 4:54 to play.
• The Cavaliers picked up the ensuing draw control, but a turnover gave JMU possession as the Dukes ran time off the clock.
• A save by junior goalkeeper Ashley Vernon gave UVA the ball back as Hoeg found Schwab for a goal with 1:51 to play.
• JMU won the next draw. Sophomore Maggie Bostain forced a turnover and Clark got a shot off, but it was saved, and time ran expired.

FROM HEAD COACH JULIE MYERS

“Disappointed with the result. No one on the team played well today, but it was still almost enough. Our biggest haunt was the 8-meter, to go 7-for-17. To miss that many opportunities is hard. It means we were able to generate a lot of looks, but we just didn’t finish them. JMU did a nice job defending them and their goalkeeper made just enough saves. Our effort was there, our execution was just off today so a disappointing result.”

UP NEXT

Virginia will travel to Louisville on Saturday, March 26 for a noon start in the first of two road ACC games.