JMU washes out Spiders

The University of Richmond women’s lacrosse team fell short of a statement win against 12th-ranked James Madison University in an 18-12 loss April 3. 

Falling out of the rankings in late March after starting the season 19th, the Spiders could not make a case for re-entry against the Dukes, who struck three times in the first quarter. Despite also holding the Spiders without a shot for almost eight minutes, however, the Dukes could not yet pull away. 

Sophomore attacker Alexis Morton opened the scoring for the Spiders with three minutes remaining in the first quarter, while junior midfielder Grace Muldoon picked the top corner just a minute later to make it a 3-2 game in favor of the Dukes.

Muldoon’s second goal of the match tied things six minutes into the second quarter, though the contest only remained tied for twenty-two seconds; the Dukes drove downfield to net their fourth goal, launching into a 4-1 run to end the half as they began to dominate the Spiders. By halftime, the Dukes had posted a 7-0 advantage in draw controls, compared to 3-3 for the first quarter.

A weather delay added more than 30 minutes to halftime, but neither that nor the accompanying third-quarter drizzle caused the Dukes to waver. Morton collected her second goal of the match from a free position as the Spiders struck first, but it was JMU that piled on five straight goals to extend its lead from two to seven. 

The third quarter closed with two Spider goals bookending JMU’s sixth goal of the period, as trouble corralling draw controls continued to slow UR’s offensive production. The Dukes’ six extra third-period draw controls led them to take seven more shots than the Spiders.

The inclement weather persisted into the fourth quarter, pausing play for another half-hour, although the conditions seemed to favor the Spiders. UR managed to match each JMU goal in the period as each team finished with five in the quarter. Morton scored twice more to get to four goals on the day and lead the Spiders on a 3-0 run to close the contest, though this only shrunk the deficit to 6. 

“They’re a tough team [we] schedule this time of year on purpose,” UR Head Coach Anne Harrington said of JMU in a postgame interview following the team’s game against St. Bonaventure on March 30. “It’s a nice reality check for things we need to work on and even things we’re feeling good about. [We] can count on the Dukes exposing any weaknesses.”

UR fell to 9-3 with the loss, its first at home of the season.

Contact sports writer Scott Valentine at scott.valentine@richmond.edu