Women's Lacrosse Wins CAA Championship

The JMU Women's Lacrosse team beat Hofstra on Saturday, 10-6, to win the CAA Championship for the seventh time in 14 years. This also gave them the CAA's autobid to the NCAA tournament, which they'll be attending for the 10th time. They made it to the semifinals in 2000 and the quarterfinals in 1998, 1999, 2001, and 2004. The Dukes also made it into the tournament in 1995, 1997, 2003, and 2006. This year will add to a decade and a half of incredible play by JMU Women's Lacrosse.

Some impressive stats compiled this year by the Dukes:

• Started the season dominating VT, 16-3
• Ranked #7 in the nation at the end of the season
• Seeded 5th in the NCAA tournament
• 16-2 record, only losing to #13 Loyola by 4 (8-12) and #1 Maryland by 1 (7-8)
• 16 wins ties the school record
• Beat Yale by 6, Princeton by 1, UR by 13, #4 UVA by 1
• Went undefeated in CAA play, which includes #8, #16, and #24
• Won CAA tourney games by 3 and 4 points
• 233 goals for vs. 129 against...almost a 2-1 ratio
• One of only two teams to go undefeated on the road this season

The Dukes will start the NCAA tournament at home on Saturday, May 15, at 1pm against Stanford. Stanford lost 10-9 at Towson on March 28 and beat Hofstra 14-13 in three overtimes at home on March 31. Stanford is coming in ranked 15th in the nation with a 15-5 record. Their 5 losses were to #11 Syracuse (7-16), #2 Northwestern (11-18), #1 Maryland (8-20), #8 Towson (9-10), and Denver (12-17). Stanford is 3-4 on the road this season. The only road wins were against 0-14 Fresno State (19-4), 8-10 California (12-7) and 13-5 Denver (11-10 2OT). Between Stanford's poor play on the road, their loss to Towson, triple-overtime win at home against Hofstra, and their bad loss to Maryland, who only beat us by one, makes me believe that getting Stanford to play at JMU is a great draw for the Dukes and gives them a great chance to move on to the next round.

This is the sixth time JMU is hosting a first-round NCAA game. The Dukes are undefeated so far in first-round home games (5-0). JMU has also beaten Stanford in the two previous contests where they have faced each other: once in 2007 in Palo Alto and then in Harrisonburg in 2008, both 10-9 wins.

Their possible path to the National Championship would be (using national ranking):
First Round: #15 Stanford (15-5), May 15
Quarterfinals: #9 Georgetown (13-5) or #11 Syracuse (13-6), May 22-23
Semifinals: Most likely #1 Maryland (18-1) or #6 Penn (14-3), May 28
Championship: Most likely #2 Northwestern (17-1) or #3 UNC (15-2),  May 30

JMU had a moment of silence before the game in memory of Yeardley Love - the University of Virginia lacrosse player who was found dead last week - and wore orange wrist bands with her initials on them, as it did before its semifinal win on Thursday. Many of Hofstra's players had Love's last name written on their legs. -DNR

JMUSports.com LACROSSE #5 SEED IN NCAA TOURNEY, TO HOST STANFORD SATURDAY
Windbreaker Pictures of W&M Game
Windbreaker Pictures of Hofstra Game