Dukes clinch CAA title
Madison defeats George Mason 14-13 in overtime
By James Irwin, senior writer
Posted on April 24, 2006

A 34-minute rain delay couldn’t put a damper on the JMU women’s lacrosse team’s Senior Day.

Junior attacker Lynlea Cronin scored four of JMU’s last five goals — including the game winner in overtime — as the Dukes held on for a 14-13 win over George Mason Friday night. With the win, they clinch the No. 1 seed in the Colonial Athletic Association women’s lacrosse tournament and the unofficial regular season title.

“It’s huge,” a beaming Cronin said, minutes after the Dukes piled onto the field in celebration. “This feels amazing.”

A year ago, JMU’s bid to become the first team to win three consecutive CAA championships came to an abrupt halt when the Dukes lost five of their last six regular season games and failed to qualify for the conference tournament.

Since the start of the 2006 season, the Dukes have vowed a return to the top. Friday that vow became a reality. The new team atop the conference standings has a recognizable name and the road to the CAA title will go through a familiar place.

“I’m still catching my breath,” JMU coach Kellie Young said. “It’s unreal, this team has worked so hard to get back here. We’ve rebounded this season. This is a credit to their work ethic.”

And in the second half, the work ethic was necessary. Young, who said she knew the Dukes would be nervous heading into a tournament-clinching game, watched a 5-3 halftime lead evaporate less than five minutes into the second period as the Patriots took a 7-6 advantage. After controlling the pace in the first 30 minutes, the game — delayed at the start for half an hour due to lightning threats — was up for grabs.

“We had to keep going after it,” Cronin said. “We knew what we had to do.”

Young called for time and rallied the troops. Less than 10 seconds after the Dukes broke huddle, junior attacker Kelly Berger buried a shot into the back of the net to tie the game at 7-7.

“We’ve learned so much this season,” said Berger, who finished with a game-high six goals. “We knew we had to ride the wave and fight back.”

The in-state rivals traded goals for the next 20 minutes at a frantic pace. George Mason attacker Brittany Berger’s goal put the Patriots up 10-9 with 10:35 to go before Cronin knotted things up one minute later by pressuring George Mason goalkeeper Roxie Alsruhe into throwing the ball away. The errant pass hit Cronin’s stick and the junior attacker served the ball into the open net.

“I saw her go to throw and I just jumped in the air,” Cronin said. “She threw it low. I was pretty surprised.”

Surprised or not, Alsruhe’s mistake proved costly for the Patriots because from that point on, Cronin went off. After making uncharacteristic mistakes on offense earlier in the game, she scored JMU’s next two goals to give the Dukes a 12-11 lead.

“I pulled her off the field for a minute,” Young said. “You could see the intensity in her eyes.”

Berger put it more bluntly.

“I think Lynlea just got pissed,” she said.

The Patriots countered Cronin’s barrage and sent the game into overtime on a goal in the final minute of regulation. But in OT, the Dukes took over.

“We talked right before overtime that it was a new game,” Young said. “We were smart, we were resilient. We never gave up.”

Cronin’s game-winner came with 4:58 left in the extra frame and from there, JMU’s defense and senior goalkeeper Livvy King took care of the rest.

“Last year was tough, that’s been made evident,” Berger said. “But we are who we are now because of last year. For the program, the coaching staff and the players — this is huge.”