FARMVILLE, Va. – In the first regular season game on the freshly installed blue turf, Longwood fell under siege from a powerful James Madison attack which fired 35 shots and led the Dukes to an 8-1 victory Sunday afternoon at the Athletics Complex.
 
Jennifer Burris scored her 21st goal as a Lancer, trimming the JMU lead to 3-1 in the opening minutes of the second half. The goal brings Burris just five goals shy of entering the top-10 goal scorers in Longwood history.
 
In goal, a combination of Lauren Bernard and Katie Wyman teamed up to stop 15 shots, but it was not nearly enough as JMU pulled away in the second half to spoil the Lancers' home opener. Bernard started the game and stopped eight shots in her 35 minutes of action. The veteran turned away the first five attempts from the Dukes, including saving a penalty shot by Taylor West, but the Dukes were not held at bay for long.
 
Danni Wilson opened the scoring for JMU, taking a pass from Loes Stijntjes off a corner and redirecting it into the cage with 16 minutes to play in the half. The Dukes would score twice more in the first half to build a 3-0 lead, capped off by Stijntjes' first of three goals of the day just three minutes before the break.
 
Wyman, Longwood's freshman goalkeeper stepped between the pipes to open the second half and was immediately tested with three consecutive shots off the stick of Miranda Rigg, stopping all three before getting help from defender Lil-Sophie Achterwinter in saving a fourth attempt from Taylor West.
 
After the initial onslaught in the second half, the Lancers were able to break out in transition and put themselves on the board thanks to Burris. The senior captain intercepted a clearance attempt from JMU goalie Sara Kraeutler and sent her shot past the exposed keeper and into the back of the cage to bring the Lancers within two.
 
Just one minute later, James Madison responded with a goal of its own as Rigg finished off a cross-circle pass from Stijntjes to open a five-goal run for the Dukes. JMU outshot the Lancers 35-9 on the day in the 8-1 victory.
 
Longwood will return to the blue turf with a pair of games in the next week as the Lancers host Lafayette on Friday before welcoming Penn on Sunday morning.
 
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