FARMVILLE, Va. – Senior Stacey de Grandhomme/Cape Town, South Africa scored a pair of second-half goals, but it was not enough to overcome an early 4-0 margin, as the Longwood University field hockey team fell, 4-2, against in-state opponent James Madison University (3-2) on Wednesday evening at the Athletics Complex. Junior Jessica Diaz/Chesapeake and sophomore Jennifer Burris/Virginia Beach tallied one assist apiece for the Lancers in the decision. Senior Kaye Goulding/Tickhill, England notched a season-best 11 saves in a complete game performance in the cage. Taylor Bailey paced the Dukes with one goal and one assist for three points in the victory. Longwood (1-4) will open its Northern Pacific Field Hockey Conference (NorPac) schedule on Saturday, September 14 when the squad welcomes Appalachian State University to Farmville for a 12 p.m. tilt.

"It seems like déjà vu," said head coach Iain Byers. "We had a good second half performance again, coming out strong and scoring two goals, but we have to do better in the first half. It's a simple story and we have to fix it. I know it sounds crazy, but I'd much rather have this fix where we know what it is rather than be baffled by why we're losing. We have to stop putting ourselves in holes. This game against JMU is always a tough game. They're a good program, but we came close last year and the year before that. We wanted to be closer this year, but we're getting there. I still have to believe it's because we're a young team with 16 underclassmen.

"These first five games were tough, but we'd like to snap the streak this weekend. App State is our first conference game and we really want to make sure that we're successful in that. We'd like to repeat something like we did last year against them and we know we can if we can get our act together."

Longwood notched the first shot of the day off the stick of sophomore Kim Ruiter/Huizen, the Netherlands, but James Madison pulled ahead, 1-0, less than two minutes into the game after forcing a corner on their first possession and converting on the opportunity with a shot from Saskia Chelmowski. The Dukes extended their margin to two goals when Taylor West made a pass from outside the circle to Bailey for the redirect from the left side of the cage just under eight minutes into the half. The Lancers had two more attempts in the period, but de Grandhomme missed high and Diaz had a shot sail wide. After more than 18 minutes of scoreless play, JMU capitalized on back-to-back attempts. Bailey made a pass across the cage to Erin Gallivan for the tip in at 26:14 before Rosalie Becker collected a loose ball near the top of the circle and fired a backhand shot that found the cage to give the Dukes a 4-0 edge at the break.

The Lancers played a solid second half on both sides of the ball, outshooting the Dukes, 7-6, and not allowing any goals in the period. The teams battled for possession for more than 17 minutes before the first shot of the second half was recorded when the Lancers got on the board by converting on a corner attempt. Burris inserted the ball to Diaz, whose clean stick stop allowed de Grandhomme to launch a hard shot past the opposing goalkeeper. Longwood continued to attack in the period and would find the back of the cage once more on a corner in the waning minutes of the game. This time, after the two initial shots on the play were saved, de Grandhomme collected the rebound for a third and final shot that she scooped high into the net to pull the Lancers within two. Longwood, however, would not come any closer as the Dukes held on for the 4-2 decision.

JMU outshot Longwood, 17-10, in the outing, while both teams logged six corners apiece. de Grandhomme led the Lancers with six shots on the day, while Diaz added a pair of her own. Two Dukes tallied three shots each to lead the squad.

Wednesday's contest marked the 13th meeting ever between Longwood and James Madison in the sport of field hockey. The Dukes still hold a 12-0 advantage in the all-time series.