Virginia senior attacker Jamie Haas managed two goals last night against No. 4 James Madison. Unfortunately for the No. 8 Cavaliers, those two goals comprised the entire second-half offensive output of the women's lacrosse team in a heartbreaking 11-8 home loss to the Dukes.
"Our hearts were in it today, without a doubt," Cav senior defender Ashley Widger said. "We came out full force - it just didn't click. We have to learn to finish."
At halftime, freshman attacker Lauren Aumiller already had netted a hat trick and the game was tied at six, but Aumiller was rendered ineffective in the second half by the swarming JMU defense.
"We crowded each other a little bit more on attack as the time was ticking down on the clock," Virginia coach Julie Myers said. "When you're on top of each other inside the eight, you don't have room to wheel and deal."
While the Cavs (7-4, 0-2 ACC) were struggling to score, Madison was getting quality scoring chances. The Dukes (8-2) quickly pulled into the lead less than a minute into the half. Madison senior attacker Julie Martinez notched her third goal of the night when she took a feed from senior midfielder Amy Brew and whipped it into the Virginia net.
"We came out and executed a play that I asked them to execute in the very beginning" of the second half, JMU coach Jen Ulehla said. "That got us going in the second half."
It was not until Martinez scored her fourth goal and Brew notched one of her own to put the Dukes up 9-6 that Haas scored the first Virginia second-half goal. By that time, junior goalkeeper Jennifer Corradini and the rest of the Madison defense were beginning to hit their stride.
Corradini "didn't have a great first half, but she got back in it and came up with some great saves in the second half," Ulehla said. "I thought our defense, all around, played very, very well. A little shaky at the beginning of the game, but I believe we were able to slow Jamie Haas down a little bit, which slowed their momentum down."
Not to be outdone by her counterpart in net, Cav senior keeper Frances Segarra kept the game close with 14 saves. After Virginia cut the Madison lead to 9-7 on Haas' first goal, JMU responded with a tenacious press in the Cavalier zone. Segarra stopped a Brew shot from point blank range and then turned away senior midfielder Jess Marion's rebound try.
Segarra "has been playing unbelievable," Widger said. "She's definitely saved our backsides a million times."
Myers also praised the effort by Aumiller, who moved into ninth place on the Virginia rookie scoring list.
"She came out on fire," Myers said. "She looked like she was having fun and was getting more and more confident. I don't know that they started to play her any differently [when she went scoreless in the second half], I just didn't think the looks were there."
The loss leaves the Cavaliers winless against top 10 competition, a position in which the preseason No. 3 team did not expect to be.
"People are mad as all hell, pardon my French," Widger said. "There's no excuses anymore. You can't think through everything you do - you have to go out and play and be confident"
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