No. 19 Virginia Travels to James Madison Wednesday

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March 21, 2017

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 19 Virginia women’s lacrosse team (4-4, 1-2 ACC) heads to Harrisonburg, Va., to take on James Madison for a mid-week contest on Wednesday (March 22) at 7 p.m. at Sentara Park.

Live stats and live video streaming links will be available on VirginiaSports.com.

Virginia returned to the national polls this week after defeating Loyola, 11-7, and knocking off then-No. 10 Notre Dame, 15-5. The Cavaliers are No. 19 in the IWLCA Coaches Poll and No. 20 in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll.

Senior Kelly Reese (Severna Park, Md.) was named ACC Co-Offensive Player of the Week with 4.00 goals per game on 6.00 shots per game and sophomore Maggie Jackson (Alexandria, Va.) earned Defensive Player of the Week honors with seven caused turnovers, nine ground balls and seven draw controls.

In the win over Notre Dame, the Cavaliers assumed the lead early with a 3-0 run to start the game. Virginia stretched its leads out to 10-2 at the half, then senior Posey Valis (Baltimore, Md.) scored five of her six goals in the second half to lead UVA to the win.

The Cavaliers have performed well in the middle of the field, ranking second in the league with 10.75 caused turnovers per game and fourth in draw controls (14.88) and ground balls (19.88).

Reese is pacing the UVA offense with 27 points, on 22 goals and five assists. Her 2.75 goals per game ranks eighth in the ACC. Jackson leads the conference and is 33rd nationally with 3.00 ground balls per game. Junior Kasey Behr (Northport, N.Y.) ranks second in the ACC with 1.75 caused turnovers per game, while sophomore Kaitlin Luzik and Jackson are tied for fifth with 1.63 per game.

This will be the 46th meeting in a series that dates back to the 1977 season. Virginia leads 32-12-1 all-time and has won five-straight. The last three meetings between the two teams have been decided by two goals or less. Last season, Virginia topped JMU 10-9 at home. The Cavaliers trailed 6-3 at halftime, but outscored the Dukes 7-3 in the second half for the win. Behr scored both of the go-ahead goals in the final 12 minutes. UVA is 13-7 in games played in Harrisonburg, Va.

James Madison most recently defeated Richmond, 14-8. The Dukes are averaging 13.33 goals per game, while holding opponents to 8.33 goals per game. Hanna Haven leads the team with 29 points, scoring 21 goals and recording eight assists. Haley Warden leads the way with 29 draw controls and 22 caused turnovers. Goalkeeper Emily Poelma has 60 saves with a 9.26 goals against average.

Virginia will be back at home on Saturday, March 25 when it hosts No. 17 Duke at 1 p.m. at Klöckner Stadium. The game will be streamed live on the ACC Network Extra.