Virginia Women's Lacrosse Knocks Off No. 6 James Madison 12-8

The Cavaliers raced out to a 7-2 lead and used a stifling defensive effort to hold on for their second top 10 victory over the season

That's another top 10 victory for the Virginia women's lacrosse team. 

The Cavaliers got off to a strong start, jumping out to a 7-2 lead in the first quarter, and used a stifling defensive effort to hold on the rest of the way as No. 9 Virginia (9-1) earned its second top 10 win of the season with a 12-8 victory over No. 6 James Madison (7-2) on Wednesday night at Klockner Stadium. 

The Dukes came in with the nation's fifth-ranked scoring offense, averaging 16.5 goals per game. But against UVA's defense anchored by Mel Josephson, JMU did not score until more than eight minutes into the contest and matched a season-low with eight total goals. 

It was the Cavalier offense that set the tone as Kiki Shaw scored back-to-back goals and then Morgan Schwab found the back of the net to give UVA an early 3-0 lead. JMU got on the board with 6:38 to go in the first, but Virginia closed the period on a 4-1 run and led 7-2 after the opening quarter. 

Mel Josephson was crucial to the Cavaliers building their early lead and hanging onto it, as the sophomore goalkeeper made three saves in the first quarter and four saves in the second, big-time stops as the Duke put 11 shots on goal in the first half, but only found the back of the net four times. Thanks to Josephson and UVA's solid team defensive effort, Virginia still led 7-4 at halftime despite not scoring at all in the second period. Neither team scored for the final 9:54 of the second quarter. 

Olivia Mattis scored her second-straight goal to get the Dukes back within two early in the third, but the Cavaliers responded with a 3-0 run, sparked by a Mackenzie Hoeg goal. It then became the Jenna Dinardo show, as the freshman midfielder had the best performance of her young career, tallying back-to-back goals to make it 10-5 at the end of the third quarter and adding two more goals in the fourth to give Virginia an insurmountable 12-6 lead. 

Dinardo's growth in the first 10 games of her first season has been remarkable. She scored one goal in each of her first four games, two goals in each of her next two, a hat trick in each of the next three games, and then tallied five goals on seven shots to lead her team to a win over the sixth-ranked team in the country. 

Morgan Schwab had four points on one goal and three assists, Kiki Shaw and Kate Miller had three points apiece, and Mackenzie Hoeg had two goals. Mel Josephson decisively won the goalie battle, allowing eight goals and making 11 saves for a .579 save percentage. JMU outshot UVA 27-26 and shots on goal were even at 19-19, but Josephson's four saves proved to be the difference. 

Now 9-1 on the season, Virginia will take aim at another top 10 win as No. 7 Syracuse comes to Charlottesville on Saturday at 12pm at Klockner Stadium. 

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