COLLEGE PARK, Md. – No. 19 James Madison defeated No. 15 Penn State 14-13 in a back-and-forth battle in the NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship first round at the Maryland Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex on Friday afternoon. 
 
The Dukes improved to 14-5 overall while the Nittany Lions ended their season at 11-8. 
 
Freshman goalkeeper Emily Evans made a game-winning save after sophomore attacker Maddie Epkeburied the game-winning goal and helped the Dukes advance to the second round. 
 
Epke led the Dukes' attack along with senior attacker Isabella Peterson as they both recorded six points and four draw controls each. Senior midfielder Taylor Marchetti also propelled the offense with a hat trick.
 
The JMU defense was spearheaded by freshman defender Ava Bleckley and senior defender Nicholle Marshall. Bleckley caused three turnovers and secured one ground ball while adding two draw controls and Marshall recorded two caused turnovers and two ground balls. 
 
Evans entered the cage in the third quarter and made a career-high five saves on 10 shots faced, allowing four goals and posting a .556 save percentage in her 26 minutes played. Sophomore goalkeeper Caitlin Boden made six saves on 21 shots faced and allowed nine goals. 
 
Gretchen Gilmore led the Penn State offense with seven goals and Lauren Saltz and Kelly MacKinney added two scores each. Sydney Manning made 14 saves on 35 shots faced, posting a .500 save percentage. The goalkeeper also secured three ground balls and caused a turnover. 
 
JMU was a perfect 17-of-17 in clear situations and outshot PSU by a 35-31 margin. The Dukes secured 13 ground balls to the Nittany Lions' 11 and caused eight turnovers while Penn State caused five. 

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Quarter – James Madison 4, Penn State 2
Penn State opened scoring with a goal from Gilmore, but Peterson responded quickly with a free-position goal for James Madison. PSU notched another before JMU went on a 3-0 scoring run to close the first quarter. 

Second Quarter – James Madison 9, Penn State 6
PSU found the back of the net twice to open the frame followed by Marchetti's first goal of the day for JMU. The Nittany Lions scored two more before the Dukes went on a 4-0 scoring run ending the frame. Peterson and Epke both notched first half hat tricks.

Third Quarter – James Madison 11, Penn State 10
Penn State scored three to open the second half, forcing a change in the cage as Evans entered for the Dukes. Freshman attacker Kaitlyn Carney notched her second goal of the day followed by a score from graduate student attacker Kacey Knobloch. PSU found the back of the net one more time before the end of the quarter. 
 
Fourth Quarter – James Madison 14, Penn State 13
The Nittany Lions continued the scoring with two goals to begin the final frame. Epke found the back of the net to tie the game at 12 before Gilmore notched her seventh goal of the day to give PSU a one-goal lead with 6:54 to play. Marchetti and Epke each scored for the Dukes to put JMU up 14-13 with 2:26 to play, and Evans made a game-winning save with 24 seconds left in play to seal the victory for the Dukes. 

GAME NOTES

• James Madison trimmed Penn State's lead in the all-time series to 22-15.
• This is the first time the Dukes have defeated Penn State in an NCAA Championship as Penn State won the previous two tournament matchups in 1995 and 2017.  
• The victory is JMU's 17th NCAA Championship tournament win overall. The Dukes have now won a game in 13 different NCAA Championships. 
• JMU has now won a game in four consecutive NCAA Championship appearances for the first time since winning a game in each appearance from 1997-2001. 
• Head Coach Shelley Klaes has earned her 11th tournament win overall and the 10th in the current run of nine consecutive NCAA Championship appearances. 
• Peterson's three assists moved her into 11th in all-time assists in JMU history with 65.
• Epke collected four draw controls in the outing, moving her into third in all-time draw controls in JMU history with 247. 
• Evans' .556 save percentage, 10 shots faced and 26 minutes played were all career highs for the freshman. 
• Carney scored a career-high two goals on two shots and two shots on goal, the most the freshman has taken in her career. Her two points tied the most of her career which she previously achieved at Furman on March 4. 
• Sophomore midfielder Brianna Mennella collected the first draw control of her career in the outing. 

UP NEXT
James Madison will take on No. 4 seed Maryland in the NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship second round on Sunday, May 12 at 12:30 p.m. in College Park. The matchup will be streamed on ESPN+.