Dukes win battle with Hoyas

Decker, McKenzie lead way to victory over Georgetown

Drew Wilson / senior photographer Freshman attacker Kelly Berger, No. 3, drives against Georgetown's Lauryn Bernier during No. 8-ranked JMU's 12-11 victory over No. 7-ranked Georgetown Tuesday at the JMU Lacrosse Complex.

Senior midfielder Gail Decker scored three of her five goals in the second half to help the No. 8 Dukes come from behind to upset the No. 7 Georgetown University Hoyas, 12-11 Tuesday at the JMU Lacrosse Complex.

The win is the Dukes' eighth consecutive victory, but is the team's first over the Hoyas since 1997.

"It was huge — I don't know if there is any other word for it," said JMU coach Kellie Young, who was an assistant coach for four years at Georgetown before coming to JMU last season. "It was a win we needed [in order] to prove that we were as good as we are against a higher-ranked program, a program that has beaten us the last seven times [we've met]."

After JMU opened with a 2-0 lead on goals by freshman midfielder Kelly Berger and Decker, Georgetown countered with a 7-2 scoring run to take a 7-4 lead with 6:44 left in the first half.

The Dukes, now 13-3 on the season, rallied for two goals to cut the Hoyas' lead to 7-6 with a little over one minute to play before halftime. As Georgetown goalkeeper Sarah Robinson stepped out of the crease, sophomore attacker Brooke McKenzie checked Robinson's stick with her own to knocked the ball away from her.

McKenzie corralled the ball and scored on the open net to tie the game at 7-7 with 34.9 seconds to play in the first period.

McKenzie said JMU was running a stall, which allowed her to make the momentum turning play.

"If my teammates were not pressuring [the defense], I would have never gotten that goal or the check off the goalie," McKenzie said. "I was lucky to be right there.

Decker said McKenzie's goal helped the Dukes' mindset heading into the second half.

"Once [Brooke] scores, she gets the whole team going, and that's exactly what we needed going into the half," Decker said.

Young said she spoke to the team at halftime and told them, "We have the momentum and carry that into the second half."

That comment seemed to pay off.McKenzie opened the second half with another goal, giving JMU its first lead since the opening minutes.

After the Hoyas scored to tie the game, Decker alone outscored them 3-1 over a seven-minute span.

With JMU ahead 11-9 with 12:38 to play, the game was delayed for 30 minutes following lightning.

When play resumed, Berger netted another goal with 7:14 to play to put the Dukes ahead, 12-9.

Georgetown got one of the goals back seconds later when it controlled the draw and scored with 6:45 left.

With 1:09 to play, the Hoyas cut the JMU lead to one when Lauren Redler scored on a free-position attempt.

Although JMU controlled the draw, a bad pass gave Georgetown one last attempt to tie the game.

Sophomore goalkeeper Livvy King blocked a shot by the Hoyas' Sarah Oliphant with 19.4 seconds left in the game. JMU regained possession of the ball and ran out the clock for the narrow win.

"We made a bunch of mistakes, but it shows us that even when we do make mistakes, we can still win because we have that much talent," Decker said.

McKenzie said the win over the Hoyas will propel the Dukes into the postseason.

"I think this [win] is definitely going to give us the edge in the conference tournament,"she said.

JMU, the top seed in the Colonial Athletic Association, will host fourth-seeded George Mason University Saturday.

Second-seeded Towson University will play third-seeded College of William & Mary in the other CAA Tournament game, also being held at JMU. The championship game is scheduled for Sunday.

The Dukes won the CAA title last season before falling to Georgetown in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.