April 25, 2008

HARRISONBURG, Va. - No. 13 George Mason (11-4, 4-2 CAA) closes out its 2008 women's lacrosse regular season schedule tomorrow at noon with a game against CAA rival James Madison (7-8, 3-3 CAA) in Harrisonburg, Va. With a win, the Patriots will clinch the second seed in the upcoming CAA Championship Tournament, which will be hosted by William and Mary on May 2-4.

William and Mary locked up the top seed in the conference tournament with last night's 19-7 victory over Old Dominion. The top four teams in the conference standings at the end of the regular season all advance to the CAA Championship Tournament. If Mason wins tomorrow, the Patriots would tie the school record set in 2005 with five conference victories and lock up the second seed in the CAA Championships. In this scenario, Towson would be the third seed and Delaware would be the fourth seed.

On the other hand, if George Mason loses to James Madison on Saturday, the Patriots would be eliminated from the conference tournament. Towson would claim the second seed, Delaware would be the third seed and James Madison would be the fourth seed. If Mason lost to the Dukes, the Patriots would be tied with Delaware, Hofstra and James Madison with a 4-3 record in conference games, and would lose the tiebreaker due to a 1-2 record against those three schools. Delaware and JMU would claim the final two spots due to a 2-1 record against the other three tied opponents. Hofstra would also be eliminated from the conference tournament in this scenario.

Mason is currently in the midst of the finest season in school history with 11 wins, the first time the Patriots have reached double-digit wins in the 15-year history of the program. Mason's potent attack is a major reason for that success as the Patriots have scored a school-record 190 goals this season while holding opponents to only 146. Three Mason players have scored more than 20 goals - senior attacker Laura King (38), junior attacker Brittany Berger (35) and senior midfielder Megan Bartlett (26).

James Madison is only 7-8 overall but has played a tough schedule, with five games against teams ranked in the top-10 at the time of the contest. The Dukes are 1-6 against ranked teams this year. After a 1-3 start in CAA games, JMU rebounded with two wins against Hofstra and Drexel last weekend to set up Saturday's showdown at the JMU Lacrosse and Soccer Complex. The Dukes' leading scorer is Annie Wagner, who enters tomorrow's matchup with 35 goals and six assists for 41 points. She has also grabbed 26 draw controls and scooped up 15 ground balls this season.

George Mason holds a 3-14 record in the all-time series against James Madison, which dates back to the 1994 season, the first year of the Patriot women's lacrosse program. The last Mason win came during the 2005 season, a 7-6 victory at George Mason Stadium. Although the past two meetings have been losses, they have both been close, with neither being decided by more than two goals.