JMU Rallies from Five Down to Beat Fairfield

from press release

The James Madison women's lacrosse team rallied from five goals down for a 12-11 win at Fairfield Tuesday afternoon.

Dukes' sophomore Caitlin McHugh (Westminster, Md./Mercy) netted the game-winning goal off a pass from redshirt senior Kim Griffin (Jarrettsville, Md./North Harford) with just 13 seconds remaining.

Then JMU senior goalkeeper Morgan Kelly (Annapolis, Md./St. Mary's) saved a shot by Fairfield's Brittany Bare with three seconds to go to preserve the victory.

The Dukes remained unbeaten at 4-0 while Fairfield dropped to 3-1 with its first loss of the year.

Griffin led JMU in scoring with four gals and two assists, and sophomore Ariel Lane (Vero Beach, Fla./Vero Beach) contributed two goals and an assist.  Six other Dukes scored one goal apiece.

Fairfield was led by Katie MacKay with three goals.

Fairfield broke a 1-1 first-half tie by scoring five straight goals to build a 6-1 lead with 3:45 left in the opening period. 

JMU, however, closed the half with goals by sophomore Ashley Kimener (Oakton, Va./Oakton) at 1:48 and by Griffin, assisted by junior Mary Kate Lomady (Abington, Pa./Abington) at 1:21.  Lomady then opened the second half with a goal just 1:15 in as the Dukes cut the Fairfield lead to 6-4.

But Fairfield got back-to-back scores by Kristen Coleman and by Caitlin Young on a free-position attempt to push the Stags' lead to 8-4 with 18:27 to play.

The Dukes, though, ran off a string of seven unanswered goals.  JMU scored four times in 3:33, starting with a goal by sophomore Annie Brophy (Berwyn, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) assisted by Griffin at 15:16 followed by an unassisted goal by Griffin at 14:06.  Lane netted a goal at 13:12, then fed freshman Kelsey MacDonald (Glyndon, Md./Bryn Mawr) for the tying score at 11:43.  That evened the game at 8-8.

JMU's next three goals came in a span of less than two minutes.  Lane scored the go-ahead goal off a pass from sophomore Monica Zabel (Ellicott City, Md./Mt. Hebron) at 9:17, then a Griffin goal assisted by redshirt freshman Casey Ancarrow (Jarrettsville, Md./John Carroll) put the Dukes ahead 10-8 at 8:30.  An Ancarrow goal finished the run, giving JMU an 11-8 advantage at 7:21.

Fairfield, however, rallied to even the score as the Stags netted three goals in less than five minutes.  A goal by MacKay tied the game at 11-11 with 1:14 on the clock.

Dukes' senior Meredith Torr (Timonium, Md./Bryn Mawr) got possession on the ensuing draw control, setting up McHugh's winning score.

JMU out-shot Fairfield 29-23, and Kelly finished with a season-high nine saves.  Fairfield goalie Katie Keenan made 12 stops.