NEWARK, DE -- The University of Delaware women’s lacrosse squad, coming off impressive back-to-back wins over Penn State and George Mason, battled No. 17 ranked James Madison to a one-goal game at the half, but the Dukes pulled away for a 16-5 Colonial Athletic Association victory Sunday afternoon at Rullo Stadium.

Delaware (5-10, 1-6 CAA), which closed out its conference schedule with the loss, had a two-game win streak snapped despite trailing just 6-5 at halftime. But James Madison (10 4, 5-1 CAA) outscored the Blue Hens 10-0 in the second half to win its second straight game and remain atop the CAA standings. The Dukes clinched at least third place in the league standings while the Blue Hens failed to earn one of the four spots in the upcoming CAA tournament.

The Hens, who have played in 12 games this season decided by three goals or less, had lost their previous five CAA games by a combined total of just 10 goals. Delaware was coming off consecutive wins of 15-14 over No. 18 Penn State and 10-9 over George Mason in the last week.

James Madison’s high-scoring duo of Kelly Berger and Brooke McKenzie combined for seven goals and five assists to lead the way. McKenzie tallied a game-high four goals and three assists while Berger, the CAA’s leading scorer with 4.58 points per game, scored three goals and dished two assists. Lynlea Cronin also added three goals and an assist while Kim Griffin and Julie Stone each scored twice.

Delaware sophomore Casey McCrudden (at right) scored two goals and dished out an assist while Lindyn Soviero scored twice and Kristin Cellucci added a goal. McCrudden, Delaware’s leading scorer this year with 39 goals, did not play for most of the second half after receiving her second yellow card of the game with with 23:21 remaining and the Hens down just 7-5.

The Blue Hens held a brief 1-0 lead when Soviero scored a goal off a McCrudden feed just two minutes into the game, but James Madison answered with three straight goals in a span of four minutes to take the lead for good. After the Dukes moved the lead to 6-3 with 13:37 left in the opening half, Delaware rallied to cut the lead to 6-5 when Cellucci scored with 8:35 left in the half and McCrudden scored with just 2:28 left.

But the second half belonged to James Madison. McKenzie scored her second goal of the game just 40 seconds into the second half for a 7-5 lead and Cronin scored six seconds after McCrudden’s disqualification to up the lead to 8-5. Berger and McKenzie each scored two more goals the rest of the way to clinch the win.

James Madison outshot the Hens 31-20 with the Delaware managing just six second half shots. JMU goalkeeper Livvy King recorded nine saves while Delaware’s Jessica Cerveny stopped six shots.

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