Dukes Put Out Flames in Non-Conference Finale

Wednesday, April 16

Harrisonburg, Va.

6 p.m.

James Madison University

10-4

Liberty

10-6

LIBERTY

James Madison

4/16/2025 10:53:00 PM | Lacrosse

Box Score Photo Gallery

HARRISONBURG, Va – Savannah Derey and Lauren Savage scored four goals each, as #12 James Madison lacrosse ran away from Liberty, 17-6, on Wednesday evening at Sentara Park.

The four goals for Savage were a career-high, which she notched on just four shots. Maddie Epke also contributed a pair of goals, one assist, and eight draw controls while Payton Root dished out a game-high four assists. Olivia Matthews won a career-high five draw controls, and Bridget Wilson recorded her first career assist.

Adanya Moyer made her tenth start in the cage for JMU (10-4, 4-0 AAC) and made four saves in just under forty minutes of action to eclipse 100 saves for her career. Caitlin Boden and Abigail Beattie handled the last twenty minutes, making three combined saves while allowing two goals.

Maddie Weybrecht led the defensive effort with three ground balls and caused turnovers each, with Olivia Rongo, Ava Main, and Carolyn Thislewaite each picking up a trio of ground balls. Ava Bleckley and Reese Cuviello also caused two turnovers each. JMU held advantages in shots (41-21), draw controls (15-12), and turnovers (14-22), while winning the battle on the ground (22-14) to set a season-high in ground balls.

Liberty (10-6, 5-0 A-SUN) was paced by Katie Colavito with a hat trick while Mackenzie Lehman provided two assists. Kendall Nye caused two turnovers for the Flames, who came into the contest leading the nation in caused turnovers at 16.87 but were limited to 10 in the contest. Liberty was also held far under its scoring average of 15.47, as it managed just six goals for the game.

How it Happened
First Quarter – James Madison 5, Liberty 2

After an opening defensive stop, Epke got the scoring going on JMU's first possession herself, all less than a minute into the action.
Pell and Derey scored in the following minutes to give JMU an early 3-0 lead before the Flames got into the scoring column halfway through the quarter. Each squad took turns scoring the rest of the opening frame as JMU led 5-2 after one.

Second Quarter – James Madison 9, Liberty 3

Epke began the quarter with another goal, before a scoring drought for both sides that was ended by Root with just under five minutes to go in the half.
Five Liberty turnovers limited the Flames to just three shots in the period and their lone goal at the 3:40 mark as JMU went into halftime up 9-3.

Third Quarter – James Madison 15, Liberty 5

The Dukes came out of the break aggressively, with Chloe Bleckley and Brianna Mennella netting goals to extend the JMU lead.
JMU reached its largest lead of the contest at the 7:26 mark, following a Matthews goal which made it 15-4 Dukes. Another Liberty goal made the lead 10 heading into the final frame.

Fourth Quarter – James Madison 18, Temple 4

Liberty committed nine turnovers in the fourth, as JMU held the Flames to just a single score and comfortably took things to the finish line for the win.

Game notes

10 Dukes made the scoring summary, the second most of any game this season behind 12 goal scorers against Old Dominion on March 22.
Epke's pair of goals continued her scoring streak to 33 games. The junior currently leading the country in draw controls per game (12.35) also inched closer to breaking her own single-season draw control record of 178, as she reached 173 for the season in the contest.
Lauren Savage is the eighth Duke to record a hat trick this season.
Payton Root recorded her fourth straight game with four or more points, and fifth overall for the season. The freshman is averaging 5.5 points in her last four contests.
The Dukes recorded three scoring runs of 3-0 or more in the contest and improved its record to 10-1 when doing so. JMU also led wire-to-wire for the second straight game and third time overall this season and improved its record to 5-0 when scoring 17 or more goals.

Up next
JMU will return to Sentara Park to celebrate its seniors as it welcomes South Florida for the home finale on Saturday, April 19. Opening draw is set for 12 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN+.