Dukes Close Regular Season with Victory at East Carolina

Saturday, April 29

Greenville, N.C.

12 p.m.

James Madison University

ECU

Dukes Close Regular Season with Victory at East Carolina

4/29/2023 3:21:00 PM | Lacrosse

Box Score

GREENVILLE, N.C. – No. 5 James Madison lacrosse put together a dominant performance in all phases, controlling a 19-5 victory at East Carolina on Saturday to complete an outright sweep of American Athletic Conference regular season action with its 16th straight win.

The Dukes improved to 16-1 (6-0) while ECU dropped to 10-7 (3-3).

Redshirt junior Isabella Peterson scored six goals to lead the Dukes and reached 202 for her career to set a new JMU program record. She also added six draw controls on the afternoon. Senior Tai Jankowski added three goals while redshirt senior Lizzy Fox, redshirt sophomore Olivia Mattis and redshirt freshman Caitlin McElwee each scored twice. Junior Katelyn Morgan tied a career high with four assists, her fourth four-assist game this season.

Away from goal, redshirt senior Rachel Matey collected a season-best nine draw controls and scooped two ground balls. Her nine draws were more than ECU combined as a team. The JMU defense held its 14th opponent below 10 goals and fourth to five or fewer. Redshirt senior Kat Buchanan made five saves, stopping half of ECU's attempts on goal.

Midfielder Camryn Pennypacker scored twice for ECU and Jaime Behar made four saves in 24:40 of game action.

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Quarter – James Madison 7, East Carolina 0
Peterson scored three goals in the quarter and Fox came up with two as the Dukes scored their last five goals in a span of 5:53. JMU dominated 10-3 in overall shots and 8-1 in shots on goal.

Second Quarter – James Madison 12, East Carolina 1
Both Jankowski and Mattis scored twice while redshirt while McElwee rounded out the scoring. The Dukes controlled six of seven draws in the quarter.

Third Quarter – James Madison 15, East Carolina 4
The Pirates grabbed the first three of the half but Peterson broke the run with two goals in 15 seconds before Jankowski added another.

Fourth Quarter – James Madison 19, East Carolina 5
The Dukes scored the last four goals of the game, started by Peterson's record-breaker and ending with the first career goal for freshman Lauren Savage.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

The 16 consecutive wins is now solely the second-longest streak in the country, with JMU breaking ahead of idle Northwestern.
Saturday was JMU's 15th straight conference win and 16th straight victory in the month of April, with both streaks dating back to April 2021.
JMU became the fifth team under Head Coach Shelley Klaes to win at least seven road games in a season and the first to do so since 2018.
The Dukes dominated draw controls 20-7, marking their third 20-draw-control performance of the year.
JMU out-scored its conference foes 94-33 in the regular season including 74-16 in the final four matchups.
JMU had goals from nine different sticks on Saturday.

RECORDS AND MILESTONES

Peterson is the third player to break a program record in April, joining Matey (draw controls) and Mairead Durkin (caused turnovers).
As a team, the Dukes currently hold the fourth-most assists in a season with 121, 35 away from the 2018 squad's 156.
Matey is up to 78 draw controls in 2023, sixth-most all time in a single season.

UP NEXT
James Madison begins postseason play with a matchup against No. 4 seed Cincinnati in the American Athletic Conference tournament semifinals on Thursday, May 4 at 4:30 p.m. from Howarth Field in Philadelphia. A win over the Bearcats on Thursday will advance JMU to the AAC Championship on Saturday, May 6 at noon.