JMU Lacrosse Is Pretty Much Crushing Souls
Back before the season started, we were lucky enough to have JMU Lacrosse Head Coach Shelley Klaes-Blawcomb join us on an episode of the JMUSB Podcast. I asked her if the team entered the season with the goal of winning a national championship. The question came from my legitimate curiosity about how high level programs established goals. The intent was not to put Coach Shelley on the spot or raise expectations. Because I’m a hack though, that’s kind of how it came across. Well, I don’t feel as bad about it now, because this JMU team is ranked 4th in the nation absolutely a contender to win the whole damn thing.
The Dukes absolutely dominated Drexel by the score of 15-2 on Sunday afternoon. JMU carried a 10-0 lead into halftime and registered 12 goals before the Dragons found the back of the net a single time. In a word, JMU was dominant. Kristen Gaudian and Elana Romesberg both recorded hat tricks. Oddly enough, that’s a below average game for each of them. Gaudian and Romesberg are the top 2 scorers in the CAA this season, averaging 3.58 and 3.33 goals per game respectively.
The win moved JMU to 11-1 overall and a perfect 2-0 in CAA play. The CAA season opener was actually even more of a blowout than the win over Drexel. JMU got league play started off with a 19-5 win over Delaware. In that contest, Romesberg tallied 5 goals and Gaudian added 3 more. Much like they did against Drexel, the Dukes took control early and never looked back.
JMU is off to the program’s best start in its 50 year history. They’ve won 3 straight games by double digits and have a ridiculous 81 goal scoring differential. They’ve got the top 2 goal scores in the CAA and 4 overall in the top 10. As a team, the Dukes score a league leading 15.75 goals a game and giving up fewer than 9 per contest. The offensive generates a ton of shots and the players are converting at a very good 48.3%. And they’re also winning draw controls and scooping up ground balls, two things that are sure to make Coach Shelley proud. In short, this is a damn good JMU team. They’ve still got to run the rest of the CAA gauntlet and face an outstanding Towson team, but they’ve got what it takes to make a deep tourney run.
