After a weekend of road action, the Virginia women's lacrosse team will face in-state rival James Madison tonight at Klöckner Stadium.
The No. 8 Cavaliers (7-3) have yet to capture a win over a top-10 team. They defeated No. 18 Temple Saturday, but fell to No. 2 Princeton Friday in a close 8-7 contest. The Cavs are now looking to retaliate with a win over the No. 4 Dukes (7-2).
JMU "may even be better than Princeton," Virginia coach Julie Myers said. "I think they're more experienced than Princeton. We will definitely need to show up and play our best game possible to come out of there on top. I'm excited to have them at home; That can be an advantage for us. I'm excited just to go back on up to Klöckner where we're pretty comfortable."
James Madison is also coming off of a disappointing loss to top-ranked Maryland Saturday, 24-15. However, the fourth-ranked Dukes were victorious over North Carolina earlier in the season. The Cavaliers lost to UNC last month.
"JMU is an excellent team," said Myers. "When they're hot, they're really hot. So hopefully we'll be able to jump out on them a little bit earlier in the game than when they jump, and hopefully we can quiet them down before they get too much momentum going."
Part of JMU's strength can be attributed to the midfield, where senior tri-captain Jess Marion, senior Amy Brew and sophomore Kristen Dinisio contribute as scoring powerhouses with 37, 18 and 17 goals, respectively.
Senior attacker Julie Martinez, who has 23 goals, has also been a significant offensive threat.
"We won't change our game all that much against them," defender Ashley Widger said. "We know what to look for. We're prepared and we've practiced their plays. It should be a challenge, though. We can't take them for granted."
The Cavalier defense will look to seniors Widger and Stephy Samaras to prevent the Dukes from achieving high scores and to force JMU turnovers that could be converted into scoring opportunities for the offense.
Led by juniors Jamie Haas and Mills Hook and senior Amy Fromal, the Cavalier squad should be able to keep their own momentum going offensively, as long as they keep the unforced turnovers to a minimum.
Widger said a win against the Dukes could go a long way towards righting the Cavs' ship. After starting the season ranked third in the nation, Virginia dropped to eighth after losing to Carolina at home Mar. 25.
"It's a huge turning point in the season for us," Widger said. "It's a huge motivational factor. We need this game. If we can win, then I think we're golden for the rest of the season."
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