Tribe Drops No. 19 James Madison, 11-10 in Overtime

Box Score

04/05/08 12:53AM

Harrisonburg, Va. - The College of William and Mary’s women’s lacrosse squad continued a pair of winning streaks on Friday evening, as its 11-10 overtime victory over No. 19 James Madison in Harrisonburg ex-tended its current season winning streak to three games and stretched its run of success over the Dukes’ to four games in what has become one of the Colonial Athletic Association’s most competitive series.

The game was the conference opener for both sides, as the College improved its season record to 5-6, while JMU falls to 4-6 overall. William and Mary has now beaten two ranked opponents in its last three contests (as it defeated then ninth-ranked Stanford last week).

The Tribe was led on the evening by a tenacious defensive effort, strong net-minding by standout freshman keeper Emily Geary (Wayne, Pa.) and the all-around play of midfielders Clare Dennis (Catonsville, Md.), Grace Golden (Manhasset, N.Y) and Mary Zulty (Jarrettsville, Md.). Geary ended the contest with nine saves, including several spec-tacular stops in the frenetic final moments of both regulation and overtime. The Tribe’s trio of midfielders each recorded three goals on the evening. Dennis has been nothing short of spectacular in her last two outings, as she came into the evening’s action off a career best six-goal afternoon in the team’s win over California (16-10). While she has scored at least one goal in the last six-straight games, her athleticism is also paying dividends in other areas, as the junior also contributed a game-high five draw controls, picked up two ground balls and caused a pair of turnovers in the win at JMU. Golden has been no less versatile, as the freshman continues to build a strong resume for all-league recognition. The three-goal effort against the Dukes gives her 17 goals over the last six games. She entered the game as the CAA’s freshman leader in goals per game (2.40), points per game (3.00) and draw controls per game (2.70) and was second amongst newcomers in ground balls (2.90). Zulty’s three-goal effort on the evening tied her career high, set last season at Longwood, and moved her season total to five.

All-American candidate Jaime Sellers (Kennebunk, Maine) also had a notable performance, as she collected a goal and continued what has been an impressive season that has seen her score at least one goal in all of the 11 Tribe games. In fact, coming into Friday’s action, no team had held her to less than three goals.

While the evening ended in celebration for the Tribe, its beginning was no party for the squad, as James Madison con-trolled play from the opening whistle and staked itself to a two-goal lead before the game was two-minutes old. Included in the early onslaught was a goal by Annie Wagner that came just 10 seconds into play. But, despite the shaky start, the College regained its legs, and quickly evened the score on goals by Dennis (free position at 25:49) and Golden (22:44). Golden’s success came courtesy of a helper from freshman attacker Ashley Holofcener (Reisterstown, Md.). After the Dukes clawed back into the lead at 17:24, the College put together a five minute barrage of scoring, starting with a free position success from Golden and ending with Dennis ringing the bell a pair of times (14:39 and 12:17). The 5-3 lead was short lived, however, as James Madison countered with trio of goals over the final 11 minutes to go into the half with a 6-5 lead.

The final 36 minutes was a tension filled battle, as neither team could take complete control of the action. JMU started the second-half scoring at 25:19 and stretched its lead to 7-5. It was both the Dukes largest, and last, lead of the game. Zulty scored the first of what were to be three crucial second half goals at 23:50, to get W&M within one, but Madison quickly regained its two-goal margin on a score by Emily Haller at 22:43. With the Tribe needing to keep contact with the home side, it was Sellers who made the crucial breakthrough at 18:02, converting on a free-position shot. Her goal started a mini-run by the College that saw it score four-straight. Zulty followed Sellers tally with a pair of goals (at 13:23 and 12:01, respectively) and then sophomore Katie Rees (Catonsville, Md.) finished the spurt with an unassisted mark at 10:11, staking the Tribe to a 10-8 led. But finishing the proud James Madison program is no easy feat, and this evening was no different, as the Dukes found a way to rally back over the remainder of regulation, netting goals at 9:50 and 6:06, to even the score. Riding the momentum of the pair of scores, play seemed to tilt into the Tribe’s defensive zone over the final several minutes of play. But, Geary stood tall in the maelstrom and denied at least two potential game winners over the last two minutes of play, helping send the game to overtime.

The College simply dominated the ball in the first overtime, controlling it for the majority of the three minutes. The game-winning moment was created after a Tribe shot attempt went high over net and was recovered by Golden, who out hustled three Duke defenders and was awarded the ball out-of-bounds, directly behind the cage. Included in the trio of defenders around Golden at the restart was the Dukes’ keeper, who, along with her teammates, were all beaten back to the net after the ensuing whistle by the speedy Golden. Golden fired into the empty net with just :16 seconds remaining in the first OT. The second overtime ended much the same as the end of regulation, with the College fighting off several game JMU attempts, but in the end Geary’s nerve held the day and preserved the 11-10 win for W&M.

The road doesn’t get any easier for the College, as it returns home to host ninth-ranked George Mason this Sunday at 1:00 pm. The game will be played at Albert-Daly field.