JMU Rally Falls Short Against #12 Virginia

Wednesday, March 19

Harrisonburg, Va.

6 p.m.

James Madison University

5-3

Virginia

6-3

Virginia

James Madison

3/19/2025 10:31:00 PM | Lacrosse

Box Score Photo Gallery

HARRISONBURG, Va. – #14 James Madison lacrosse cut a seven-goal halftime deficit to just two in the fourth quarter, but saw its rally fall short to #12 Virginia, 14-11, in a top-15 matchup at Sentara Park on Wednesday night.

Savannah Derey led JMU (5-3, 1-0 AAC) with four goals while Olivia Mattis and Olivia Matthews netted two goals apiece. Maddie Epke registered one goal, two assists, and nine draw controls while Brianna Mennella provided a career-high three assists to go along with one score.

Adanya Moyer made her fourth start in the cage and made 11 saves on 28 shots faced. The Dukes held a 15-9 edge in turnovers and trailed just one shy in shots (28-27) and ground balls (16-15), but lost the draw battle for just the second time this season (18-11).

Kate Galica, Payton Sfreddo, and Addi Foster each recorded hat tricks to lead Virginia (6-3, 2-2 ACC). Mel Josephson made the start in the cage and earned the win for the Cavaliers, making ten saves in three quarters played.

How it Happened
First Quarter – Virginia 4, James Madison 2

Virginia capitalized on a takeaway and opportunity from the eight-meter to lead 2-0 just 75 seconds into the game.
Derey got JMU on the board off an assist from Maggie Clark to make it 2-1 at the 11:40 mark of the period.
The Dukes would take five more shots (three on goal) but found only one more score off a free-position from Derey at the 4:32 mark and trailed 4-2 after one.

Second Quarter – Virginia 10, James Madison 3

The Cavs opened the second stanza in similar fashion to the first, going on a 5-0 run before Matthews tallied JMU's lone goal of the quarter with 3:03 to go before halftime. JMU saw six of its seven shots saved in the quarter by Josephson.

Third Quarter – Virginia 12, James Madison 9

The Dukes took care of the ball while Virginia coughed up four turnovers in the third frame, allowing a 5-1 JMU run to make it just a three-point game at 11-8 with 7:55 to go in the third.
Virginia responded with a goal to stretch the lead back to four, but Derey would punch in another score with 27 seconds to go in the period to make it 12-9 headed to the fourth.

Fourth Quarter – Virginia 14, James Madison 11

A man-up goal from Chloe Bleckley cut the Virginia lead to just two at 12-10 with 13:34 left to play. Scoring stalled for the next several minutes before Virginia found another goal with 6:25 to go.
Mattis brought it back to a two-point deficit with just under five minutes to play.
Matthews earned a free-position opportunity with 2:03 to play, but couldn't convert as Virginia made the defensive stand to run out the clock for the win.

Game notes

Savannah Derey recorded her third hat trick of the season.
Maddie Epke has scored in 27 straight games, while Chloe Bleckley continued her streak of recording at least a point in every game this season.
JMU was outdrawn for just the second time this season, and is 1-1 in games in which it was outdrawn.

Up Next
#14 JMU will return to action and conference play on Saturday, March 22 when it welcomes Old Dominion to Sentara Park. The opening draw is set for 1 p.m. and will stream on ESPN+.