No. 4 James Madison Defeats Elon WLAX at Rudd Field

ELON, N.C. – Elon University women’s lacrosse found itself in a tough hole Sunday afternoon, April 15, in a 15-3 loss to fourth-ranked James Madison at Rudd Field.

FINAL STATS

THE RUNDOWN
The Dukes (13-1, 4-0 CAA) opened the afternoon with eight goals in a row in the first 19:20 of action before Melissa Birdsell got the Phoenix (2-10, 1-2 CAA) on the board with a quick release in front of the cage after a nice feed from Summer Larese.

Looking for a bit of momentum heading into the locker room, Quinn Daly scored with 62 seconds to go in the first half on another nice feed from Larese. But after a turnover from both teams in the ensuing 35 seconds, JMU came back with a goal with 23 seconds left to take an 11-2 lead to halftime.

On the other side of the break, JMU scored four more times to push its lead to 15-2 before Maeve Cowley scored the game’s final goal with 6:35 to go on a free position shot.

HIGHLIGHTS
Larese led Elon with two points thanks to her career high two assists. Cowley, Birdsell and Daly provided Elon’s spark on the offensive end. Stephanie Asher pulled in a team-best four draw controls and four players – Asher, Alexis Zadjura, Bridget Lamb and Abby Godfrey – all had two ground balls. Zadjura, Lamb and Kira Oberle also each caused two turnovers.

Hanna Haven, Maddie McDaniel, Elena Romesburg, Charlotte Haggerty and Halle Duenkel all scored two goals to pace James Madison. Katie Kerrigan called the shots from behind the cage, finishing with eight assists, all of which came in the first 28:05 of the game. Both Romesburg and Kristen Gaudian picked up a team-high four draw controls and Haley Warden finished with three caused turnovers while Corinne Schmidt had a game-best three ground balls.

NOTES
-With severe weather moving into the vicinity, the game was called with 2:55 to play.
-Stephanie Asher was held without a point for just the second time this season.
-At No. 4, JMU’s national ranking marks the second time the No. 4 team in the country has visited Rudd Field. On March 15, 2016, No. 4 North Carolina played Elon at Rudd Field.

UP NEXT
Elon will play its final two road games of the season next weekend with trips to Delaware on Friday, April 20, and Drexel on Sunday, April 22. First draw against Delaware is set for 6 p.m. with opening draw at Drexel slated for 1 p.m.