Vol. 8: Back on Track, JMU Is Dogpiling Ranked Wins
Vol. 8: Back on Track, JMU Is Dogpiling Ranked Wins
James Madison put the sport on notice with a decisive, 13-8 win over then-No. 3 Maryland. The Dukes have won three straight against ranked opponents.
JMU attacker Tai Jankowski cradles the ball against then-No. 3 Maryland on March 26. She was one of nine Dukes to register a point in the win. Photo courtesy: Maryland Athletics.
James Madison went into College Park on Saturday as losers of 12 straight versus Maryland. The Dukes were 3-42 all time against the Terrapins and 1-22 in road matchups, with the lone win coming in April 2003.
With just 0.1 seconds left on the clock in the first half of the 2022 installment, Maryland junior attacker Hannah Leubecker had a chance to give her team the lead on a free-position attempt. JMU redshirt senior goalie Molly Dougherty read Leubecker well, though, and made the save to keep the score at 6-6.
Then, after halftime, JMU shot out of a cannon.
Redshirt junior attacker Kacey Knobloch caused a Maddie Sanchez turnover on Maryland’s first possession of the third quarter. Knoblock scooped the ground ball and turned upfield. She fed sophomore attacker Katelyn Morgan who beat Maryland’s Emily Sterling at the 13:24 mark and jumpstarted a 4-1 run.
The Dukes outshot the Terrapins, 8-5, in the third quarter and won 6-of-10 ground balls. They led, 10-7, going into the fourth, putting Maryland in unfamiliar territory. The Terrapins had not trailed in the fourth quarter this season, and they were behind in the second half just once—against then-No. 10 Virginia.
Unlike against the Cavaliers, Maryland was not able to mount a late comeback versus JMU. Dougherty saved 11 of the 19 shots she faced and limited Maryland to a woeful 1-of-8 on free-position chances. JMU won, 13-8, in a significant upset.
The home loss was just the fifth ever for Maryland head coach Cathy Reese.
Following the win, Dougherty was named CAA Co-Defensive Player of the Week, her first conference honor this season. The redshirt senior has started 62 games in her career, posting a 9.02 goals against average and 557 total saves.
Redshirt sophomore Isabella Peterson continued her tear with another six-point game against Maryland (5 goals, 1 assist). She was named CAA Player of the Week for the second straight week and has 35 goals and seven assists on the season.
JMU looks like a different team from the one we saw from February through mid-March. Through seven games, JMU averaged 10.14 goals per game and 9.71 goals against (+0.43 scoring margin). In their last three games—against No. 19 Richmond, No. 16 UVA and No. 8 Maryland—the Dukes have averaged 14.00 goals per game and 10.67 goals against (+3.33 scoring margin).
This week, JMU finds itself back at No. 12, the same spot it was ranked heading into the season.
The mid-majors have begun conference play, and the number of undefeateds continues to dwindle. As the calendar turns to April, teams across the country are finding their form.
Other Storylines to Know:
1. No. 24 Colorado is back in the running for the Pac-12. When Colorado started 5-0, the Buffaloes looked like the Pac-12 dark horse. Then USC beat Colorado in the teams’ league opener, and, not too long after that, the Women of Troy were standing atop the Pac-12 table with a 3-0 conference record. But Stanford, the league’s champion in 2021, wasn’t just going to let USC run away with the conference. Following a 1-4 start, which included a trio of losses to top-15 teams, the Cardinal rattled off four wins in a row. Three of those came against Pac-12 opponents, namely USC. A 15-14 overtime victory over the Trojans vaulted Stanford into first place in the conference.
What seemed like a two-way race for the league became a three-way competition this past week. Remember Colorado? Well, the Buffs are back. Once they snapped a two-game losing streak with a win against league bottom dweller Oregon, the wheels were in motion. Over the weekend, head coach Ann Elliott Whidden’s team staved off a Stanford comeback in the fourth quarter to beat the Cardinal, 17-16. Two days later, Colorado improved to 8-2, and 3-2 in league play, with a 16-10 victory over Cal.
Sadie Grozier scores a first-half goal against Cal on March 27. She found the back of the cage six times in the win. Photo courtesy: Tim Benko/Benko Photographics.
Sadie Grozier starred in the win against the Golden Bears, piling up six goals. The fifth-year attacker has been critical in the Buffs’ three-game turnaround. In that span, she has 12 goals. What’s more, Grozier has scored six goals in three different games this season. USC remains atop the Pac-12 standings, however, Colorado has one more overall win and is just one conference game back. Stanford has the same league record (4-1) as USC. And Arizona State, despite its 4-5 overall mark, is 3-2 in Pac-12 play, like Colorado. The Pac-12 is heating up.
2. Running the A-10, No. 18 UMass blows out St. Bonaventure and Duquesne. We knew UMass was going to be good. The Minutewomen were voted the preseason favorites in the Atlantic 10 and received nine of the 10 available first-place votes. Returning A-10 Co-Offensive Player of the Year Haley Connaughton, midfielders Amy Moreau and Olivia Muscella and defenders Courtney Barrett and Audura Tosone, UMass looked poised to make its second straight NCAA Tournament and 11th in the last 14 years.
But we didn’t know the Minutewomen would be this good. In the opening weekend of A-10 play, UMass won at St. Bonaventure, 22-4, and at Duquesne, 21-9. UMass has the fourth-best scoring offense in the country, tallying 16.70 goals per game. The Minutewomen are top-10 nationally in points per game (4th, 24.50), shots per game (6th, 27.10), scoring margin (7th, 6.60), assists per game (8th, 7.80), shot percentage (10th, 0.485) and shots per game (10th, 34.40). Boston College transfer attacker Alex Finn leads the team with 35 points and logged seven in a win over BU (5 goals, 2 assists).
For the Minutewomen, though, defense is what leads to offense. UMass has a 0.932 team clearing percentage, good for first in the conference and third nationally. The Minutewomen also average just 13 turnovers per game, the fewest in the A-10. So far, head coach Angela McMahon-Serpone’s team is clicking and has the looks of a team that can win an NCAA Tournament game.
Junior attacker Alex Finn has paced the UMass offense so far with 35 points. Finn transferred from Boston College after the shortened 2020 season. Photo courtesy: UMass Athletics.
3. Siena kicks off MAAC play with a high-scoring thriller against streaking Iona. You couldn’t script it any better. Siena fifth-year attacker Nicole McNeely became the program’s all-time points leader in the second quarter. Then she took over as the program’s all-time goals leader in the third period. And, in the final six minutes of the final frame, she orchestrated a four-goal run that delivered the Saints a dramatic 21-20 win over Iona to kick off MAAC play.
What made this game even more incredible was the fact that senior Mary Soures found the back of the net nine times, breaking the Siena record for most goals in a game. Seven of those scoring strikes occurred in the first half. Oh, and as for the 21 Saints goals? Yeah, that’s tied for the second most in single-game program history. The 41 total goals, on the other hand, make up the highest scoring game Siena has ever been part of.
McNeely scored her game-winner at the crease’s doorstep with three ticks remaining. It snapped a seven-game Iona win streak. The Gaels had their way on offense for much of the day as 27 of their 33 shots were on target, and they maintained a 26-16 advantage in the circle. Junior Emily Stewart had six goals on seven shots. And freshman Kira Varada notched five goals and a team-high 11 draws. But it wasn’t enough. Siena got the last laugh.
4. No. 6 Loyola stays perfect, and it started with a midweek over No. 11 Princeton. Something had to budge. Someone had to lose. Loyola and Princeton entered last week as two of the four remaining undefeated teams in Division I women’s lacrosse. The Tigers avoided an upset against Cornell in its Ivy League opener, thanks to a three-goal comeback in the fourth quarter, then won a “prove it” game against then-No. 17 USC. They also skirted around Penn State by one goal in Happy Valley. Loyola handled its business, too, but without much of a scare. The Greyhounds ran away with games against then-No. 21 Johns Hopkins and Penn State, not to mention their 12-9 win over then-No. 12 Florida.
So the stakes were high for the midweek matchup. Except, not too high for Jen Adams’ group. Not even in the pouring rain. Princeton pulled within one goal of the Greyhounds three times in the final quarter. Loyola never relinquished its lead, though, and Livy Rosenzweig, who also scored two goals, clinched the game in the circle to seal a 16-15 victory.
Loyola, still undefeated, celebrates after its 16-15 win over then-No. 10 Princeton on March 23. Photo courtesy: Loyola Athletics.
Rosenzweig, the program’s all-time points leader, has been doing her thing for a while. Freshman Georgia Latch, meanwhile, got started on building out her career with a personal-best six points, including her first-ever hat trick, in the win. On the other end of the field, the Greyhounds were led by senior defenders Shay Clevenger and Katie Detwiler, both of whom caused three turnovers.
Loyola kept humming in the win column this weekend with a 23-5 beatdown of Boston University. So, with Maryland’s loss, the Greyhounds and UNC Tar Heels are only teams with unblemished records.
5. Bryant and Wagner impress in opening weekend of NEC conference play. The Bryant Bulldogs and the Wagner Seahawks have history. At least one of the two schools has been represented in the Northeast Conference (NEC) Tournament Championship every year since 2013. Bryant has won three tournament championships in the last 10 years (2014, 2015, 2017), all of which ended with a win over Wagner in the title game. Wagner has beaten Bryant in the NEC Championship twice, too, with wins over the Bulldogs in 2016 and in double overtime in 2018. That’s right, Bryant and Wagner played each other for five straight years for a spot in the NCAA Tournament from 2014-18. In 2019, Wagner won again, this time over Mount St. Mary’s. In 2021, the Mount beat Wagner, 9-8, in overtime after trailing the Seahawks, 7-3.
2022 could see the rivalry renewed between Bryant and Wagner. In the opening weekend of NEC play, both teams registered wins. Bryant defeated the reigning conference champs Mount St. Mary’s, 14-10, behind five goals and one assist from sophomore attacker Kenna Kaut. The NEC named Kaut the conference player of the week for the second time this season following the win. Meanwhile, Wagner impressed with a dominating, 16-5 win over Central Connecticut State. Graduate attackers Stefani Peluso and Madeline Seims combined for seven goals.
Bryant currently leads in the NEC in goals per game (15.17) and points per game (24.17), while Wagner boasts one of the best defenses in the conference. The Seahawks lead the conference in ground balls per game (20.44) and caused turnovers per game (10.78). Bryant and Wagner will face off in the regular season finale on April 30.
Junior attacker Emily Oliver dodges against Brown on Feb. 19. The Bulldogs have lost just two games by a combined four goals this season. Photo courtesy: Bryant Athletics.
Weekly Focus:
MIDSEASON AWARDS…
We have decided to put together our own (expanded) midseason first-team All-American team, in addition to revealing our picks for some other midseason honors.
FIRST-TEAM ALL-AMERICAN
ATTACK:
Charlotte North (BC)
Aurora Cordingley (Maryland)
Ashley Humphrey (Stanford)
Cat Barry (Duke)
Meaghan Tyrrell (Syracuse)
MIDFIELD:
Jill Girardi (Northwestern)
Siena Gore (Kennesaw St.)
Ellie Masera (Stony Brook)
Rachel Clark (UVA)
Sydney Watson (UConn)
Emma Tyrrell (Syracuse)
DEFENSE:
Meghan Ball (Rutgers)
Emma Trenchard (UNC)
Sam Thacker (Denver)
Carolyn Carrera (Vermont)
GOALIE:
Arielle Weissman (Michigan)
Meghna Dawar (VCU)
ATTACKER OF THE YEAR
David’s pick: Charlotte North (Graduate Student, BC) – What more is there to say about Charlotte North? After her Tewaaraton campaign in 2021, North again leads the nation in goals per game with 4.90.
Andy’s pick: Aurora Cordingley (Maryland) – Talk about an impact transfer. Cordingley has come over from Johns Hopkins and helped Maryland bounce back from an off year in the Big Ten. She is first in the country in points per game (6.67) right now.
MIDFIELDER OF THE YEAR
David’s pick: Emma Tyrrell (Junior, Syracuse) – What stands about Emma Tyrrell is how she fills up the entire stat sheet for the Orange. She has 24 goals, 16 assists, a 0.571 shot percentage, 10 ground balls and 54 draw controls. She can do it all.
Andy’s pick: Siena Gore (Kennesaw St.) – Gore is building off a head-turning 2021, during which she ranked fourth in goals per game. This time around, she’s on pace to finish one notch above last year as she’s currently third with 4.83 goals per game.
DEFENDER OF THE YEAR
David’s pick: Sam Thacker (Junior, Denver) – Thacker is a huge reason why the Denver Pioneers have the nation’s best scoring defense, allowing just seven goals a game. Thacker is third nationally in caused turnovers per game (2.64) and has 25 ground balls and 28 draw controls as well.
Andy’s pick: Carolyn Carrera (Senior, Vermont) – Carrera is tied for first nationally in caused turnovers per game (2.90) and is the only player in the country who is averaging more than four ground balls per game (4.20). She’s playing a huge role for a Vermont defense that is tied for 13th in goals against average (9.60).
GOALIE OF THE YEAR
David’s pick: Arielle Weissman (Graduate Student, Michigan) – Weissman has the best goals against average in the country at 7.16. She is third in save percentage at 0.553 and has helped spearhead Michigan’s best season in years.
No one in the country has a better goals against average than Arielle Weissman. She’s been holding down the fort for Michigan. Photo courtesy: Michigan Athletics.
Andy’s pick: Meghna Dawar (Redshirt junior, VCU) – Dawar is finally getting her shot to shine, and she’s making the most of the opportunity. She is tied with Lehigh’s Hayley Hunt for the best save percentage (.554) in the country. Both her and Hunt have made 118 stops, tied for third most nationally.
COACH OF THE YEAR
David’s pick: Kayla Treanor (Syracuse) – Expectations varied for Kayla Treanor in Year One at the helm for Syracuse. Some (like myself) thought the Orange could make another deep tournament run. Others thought there might be a steeper learning curve for Treanor and Co. Through 10 games, Treanor has guided her team to a 8-2 record and is 6-2 against ranked opponents, including wins over No. 5 Stony Brook and No. 7 Duke.
Andy’s pick: Kelly Amonte Hiller (Northwestern) – The Wildcats had to go through a gauntlet at the beginning of the season. Without Izzy Scane, their 2021 Tewaaraton finalist who tore her ACL ahead of this year. Five of Northwestern’s first seven games in 2022 came against ranked opponents, including the No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 6 teams in the nation. The Wildcats went 3-2 in those contests, with wins over Notre Dame, Syracuse and Stony Brook.
Numbers to Know:
2 – the number of undefeated teams left in Division I women’s lacrosse. No. 1 UNC is 11-0, and No. 6 Loyola is 9-0. Cal (0-11) and Boston University (0-9) are the only two teams without a win this season.
16 – the number of assists UNC had in a 23-9 defeat of High Point last Wednesday. The 16 assists were the most by a team in a game this season. The Tar Heels lead the country in assists per game at 10.73.
0.917 – the free-position percentage of Iona’s sophomore midfielder Emily Stewart, and the best mark in the country. Stewart has scored on 11-of-12 free-position chances. Stewart is one of 20 players in the nation with double-digit free-position goals. Charlotte North of BC has the most with 18.
Tewaaraton Watch:
POINTS PER GAME LEADERS
GOALS PER GAME LEADERS
NOTE: Stats correct through March 28.
Inside Lacrosse Poll
Screenshots pulled from insidelacrosse.com.
The Terrapins’ first loss of the season saw them fall five spots to No. 8 and made them one of the losers in the Inside Lacrosse Poll this week. Princeton, Michigan, Rutgers and Notre Dame each dropped one spot, and Navy fell from No. 17 to No. 22 after a 13-12 defeat to 5-5 Georgetown.
JMU moved up three places with its monumental win. Six of the Top 10 moved up one spot, and Northwestern is back at No. 3. UMass continues to climb and is up to No. 18 with a 8-2 record. Colorado is back in the rankings.
As we’re at the unofficial halfway point, it’s worth looking at where teams are ranked now in relation to their preseason position. Twenty-one of the preseason Top 25 are still ranked. Drexel, Penn, Temple and Penn State have dropped from the polls while No. 17 USC, No. 19 Richmond, No. 22 Navy and No. 24 Colorado worked their way in this season. Michigan has orchestrated the biggest climb and is up 10 spots from preseason No. 23 to No. 13. Stanford has dropped 12 spots from No. 13 to No. 25. Notre Dame came in at preseason No. 5 but sits at No. 15 with a 4-6 record.
What’s Ahead?
No. 4 Syracuse @ No. 6 Loyola, March 29, 6 p.m.
No. 11 Princeton @ No. 5 Stony Brook, March 29, 7 p.m.
No. 14 Rutgers @ No. 13 Michigan, March 31, 7 p.m.
No. 25 Stanford @ No. 24 Colorado, April 1, 9 p.m.
No. 1 UNC @ No. 15 Notre Dame, April 2, 11 a.m.
No. 13 Michigan @ No. 17 USC, April 3, 12 p.m.
Hope you enjoyed this edition of the Quick on the Draw newsletter. If you liked it or know someone who will, please share! We’ll be back next week for more coverage.