The Colonial Athletic Association shook up the national women’s lacrosse scene with two statement wins in less than 20 minutes Saturday.

The season-opening wins vaulted previously unranked Towson and then-No. 17 James Madison into the top 10 of this week’s Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Women’s Top 20. If at least one of them can continue to navigate successfully through daunting non-conference schedules and within their rapidly improving conference, far down the road it could be enough for a rare top-six NCAA tournament seed for a CAA team.

“The cat’s out of the bag that the CAA is a competitive conference,” Towson coach Sonia LaMonica said. “But there’s a lot of lacrosse to be played. I’m sure there will be a lot of shake-ups to come.”

The first shake-up began when Sami Chenoweth caused a turnover in the final seconds to preserve Towson’s 14-13 win over then-No. 4 Penn State at Unitas Stadium.

“There’s so much potential,” LaMonica said. “If we can execute well to a high level — to our potential — I think the sky’s the limit. The win solidified it to these players. To come out with a big win like that just shows them the sky is the limit and we have to make the most of our opportunities.”

Barely 15 minutes later and 135 miles away, Kristen Gaudian scored with 1:53 left in the second overtime to give James Madison a 15-14 win over then-No. 3 North Carolina.

“This is a huge statement win for our program, but it’s just one game, the first game of this season,” Dukes coach Shelley Klaes-Bawcombe said. “Being able to do it and do it again is hard, and that’s the challenge ahead of us.”

James Madison hosts another ACC team, Virginia Tech, a team also in consideration for the top 20, at 4 p.m. today.

“You look at last year, we had some big wins, and then we go and lose to an unranked team like Rutgers,” Klaes-Bawcombe said. “Being able to stay on top is a whole other thing. We’re just taking it one game at a time.”

The Dukes were the last CAA team to earn a top-six seed as a No. 5 seed in 2010, but the conference is on the rise. Last year, for the first time since 2001 when Loyola was still a member, the CAA had three teams in the NCAA tournament with Elon breaking through to join James Madison and Towson.

“That’s our goal — to year in and year out be in that hunt for the final four,” Elon coach Josh Hexter said. “And we’re not there right now, but that’s the goal. We want to help elevate the CAA, so if we keep getting better and we can catch up to Towson and JMU, hopefully the entire conference keeps pushing each other to get better through the competition.”

Delaware upset James Madison last year while playing a schedule that actually ranked harder than Elon, which played five ACC teams last year and will do the same again this year. Hofstra and William and Mary both are building on last year’s top-45 strength of schedules. Elon opened with a 17-9 loss to No. 20 Duke on Sunday.

“We probably learned more about ourselves in the beating we took from Duke than we would have learned had we come out and beat somebody by 20,” Hexter said. “Real competitors want to play the best competition every day. It’s how you get better, and it’s more fun.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF TOWSON ATHLETICS

The CAA is getting bigger, stronger and faster players and making inroads at the national level thanks to well-established coaches and their staffs. The CAA’s average RPI last year was 35.7, which trailed only the ACC (18.3), Big Ten (26.0) and Ivy League (31.5).

“Last year, we started with consistently beating ACC teams, not necessarily the top half for last year, but beating very strong reputable ACC programs,” Klaes-Bawcombe said. “Notre Dame was beat by Towson. UVA-Elon and Tech with us and Elon. We beat Louisville. Now it’s the top of the ACC and the top of the Big Ten teams. That’s awesome. It is a signature win, and we get that.”

Hexter thinks that he was the first to text congratulations to LaMonica and Klaes-Bawcombe after their landmark wins Saturday.

“They are very, very good friends of mine and I, of course, pull for them, and Delaware, and Hofstra and William and Mary,” Hexter said. “We pull for all of them. You want your conference to be strong if for no other reason that when you play them, their RPI is already way up. We need each other to do well. It’s important.”

Klaes-Bawcombe was walking off the field when she was told of Towson’s victory. LaMonica was informed of James Madison’s win the moment it ended.

“I was happy for them,” LaMonica said. “I know some of our players were a little ticked about them stealing our thunder, but that’s the great rivalry between JMU and Towson.”

James Madison and Towson’s early statements spearhead the hard-charging CAA that hopes not just to put three more teams in the NCAA tournament, but also to have them host games and advance deep into May.

“We all want to be competing for a national championship in the CAA. It’s not just one or two programs,” Klaes-Bawcombe said. “We’re all hungry. It’s recognizing we’re in it for each other and the stronger our conference can be, the easier that ticket is to the NCAAs. It doesn’t have to be just JMU or just Towson anymore. There’s a chance we can get at-large bids, and we need to keep fighting for it.”

Added LaMonica: “I don’t think the general lacrosse community has as much respect for the CAA as it might for the Patriot and some of these other conferences for whatever reason. We have to prove ourselves and we can’t slip up.”