Box Score HARRISONBURG, Va. – Freshman Lil-Sophie Achterwinter scored her first collegiate goal as Longwood battled back from two deficits before finally falling 4-2 to James Madison Friday night in Harrisonburg.

"JMU is always a great benchmark for our team," head coach Iain Byers said. "I felt like we really deserved better from our effort. We once again showed great character and our team once again continues to get better and better."

The first half of play was extremely even. Longwood got out of the gate fast, controlling much of the first five minutes. The Lancers earned a couple of early corners and found the first chance of the game as Kate Harvey uncorked a laser off a corner that was stopped by a diving Hannah George.

From there, play evened out; James Madison found a rhythm and at the 14:55 mark, Melanie Kusakavitch put a rebound into the top left corner to give the Dukes a 1-0 lead. Hannah Hall fired a shot from the right of the circle which Lauren Bernard stopped with a diving effort; unfortunately, the ball popped over Bernard and onto Kusakavitch's stick.

After the JMU goal, Longwood once again found possession, but could do little with the ball. For the next 15 minutes, the teams battled in the midfield until Longwood drew their third corner of the night. This time, Ellen Ross stopped it to Lil-Sophie Achterwinter who fired a rocket from the top of the circle into the back of the cage.

"It's sad that we didn't get the victory because we played really well," said Achterwinter. "At the same time, it was really exciting to get my first goal since that was kind of my personal goal coming in."

The 1-1 score line would last just 78 seconds as JMU answered immediately with a goal from Loes Stijntjes. Stijntjes found the ball in the circle and punched it past Bernard who once again was sprawled out after a diving save. At the half, the score read 2-1 Dukes.

Coming out of the break, JMU earned a pair of corners just seconds into the half. Kate Colley blocked both attempts, averting the early trouble. The Lancers came charging back, narrowly missing the goal on a couple of early chances before earning their fourth corner of the night. Once again, the blue and white capitalized on the opportunity as Jennifer Burris inserted it to freshman Edel Nyland who blasted the ball past George to draw the Lancers even at 2-2.

Following the pattern of the first half, play evened out. It would be the Dukes who made the next significant push forward as Bernard made a pair of great saves to thwart JMU. The Dukes continued pressing and drew a corner with 14:35 to play. Off the corner, Stijntjes launched a shot that deflect off of Bethany Ashworth's stick and into the goal for the eventual game winner.

Longwood nearly leveled again on a corner with 7:20 to go in the game; Ellen Ross took the initial shot which was stopped by George. The rebound came away to Nyland who put her chance just wide.

It simply was not to be for the blue and white as with 34 seconds to play, JMU scored off of a third consecutive corner. The play was nearly identical to the Dukes third goal as Stijntjes fired a shot which deflected off a Longwood stick and into the cage for her second goal of the game.

"I look forward to seeing our improvement play out as the season goes on, beginning with VCU on Sunday," said Byers.

Longwood falls to 1-2 and will return to Farmville to face VCU Sunday at 2 p.m. for the home opener.