HARRISONBURG, Va. — After opening the season with a thrilling double-overtime victory against then third-ranked North Carolina, James Madison’s players and coaches felt like the opportunity was in front of them for a truly special season. 

Saturday afternoon at JMU’s Sentara Park, the Dukes proved their instincts correct, and at the same time brought their season full circle. With a dominant second half and an 11-8 victory against No. 6 seed Florida, third-seeded Madison set up a national semifinal rematch with the Tar Heels. 

“It’s really surreal to have that kind of confidence in a group of women,” JMU coach Shelley Klaes-Bawcombe said. “In a sport that’s so athletic with so much you can’t control, I had so much faith in them.”

The Dukes, now 20-1, advanced to final four for the second time in school history and the first time since 2000. Kristen Gaudian led JMU with three goals. Hanna Haven had two goals and two assists while Elena Romesburg had a pair of goals and three draw controls for the Dukes.

Freshman goalkeeper Molly Dougherty stopped nine shots, several right on the doorstep. 

“Seeing on that board we are going to play UNC, isn’t that a great full-circle moment,” Dougherty said. “We just finished a great season at home and now we are going to take that momentum and energy here from Harrisonburg and bring it up to the Island.”

For the first 34 minutes, the style of play favored the defensive-minded Gators, who had held nine of their previous 10 opponents to single digits. Back-to-back Florida goals had given it a 5-4 lead early in the second half. That’s when JMU’s trio of senior offensive stars started doing what they do, and over the course of a minute and a half seized the momentum and a date in Stony Brook Memorial Day weekend. 

Romesburg forced a turnover while the Gators attempted to clear and noticed an empty goal to shoot into. Gaudian, hounded by Florida freshman Sabrina Cristodero all afternoon, found just a bit of daylight and fired one into the back of the net. Then Katie Kerrigan, James Madison’s maestro behind the cage, faked a pass, curled around the crease and scored to give the Dukes a two-goal cushion for the first time, 7-5 with 24:18 left in the game. 

From there JMU rolled, building a five-goal lead at one point before closing it out. 

“We caught them by surprise a little bit,” Romesburg said, describing the key turnover. “Luckily the goalie had come out. I think that’s what got the energy, both from the defense and the offense, rolling from there.”

After falling five goals behind before rallying for the victory last week against Colorado, the Gators struck first with a free position goal from Lindsey Ronbeck and added another from the junior attacker to put Florida ahead 2-0 with 13:27 left in the first half. 

Ronbeck finished with three goals and Florida managed to keep the pace slow most of the first half while doing a magnificent job limiting the opportunities for JMU’s Tewaaraton Award finalist Gaudian, who nailed her only shot attempt of the opening period. Still, the Dukes were able to take a 4-3 advantage into the locker room at halftime. 

“I thought we played one of the best games we’ve ever played,” Florida coach Amanda O’Leary said. “I don’t think defensively we have anything to be ashamed of. I thought we did our jobs on the defensive end for sure.”

But Florida's quick start in the second didn't rattle the veteran Dukes. Now UNC awaits and a potential rematch with Maryland, which handed JMU its only loss, remains a title game possibility for a team that has thrived in rematches thus far.

“We beat Towson two times. We beat UVA two times,” Klaes-Bawcombe said. “This time around I think we are a much different team going into this game than we were the last time, so I’m just really excited for this great opportunity.”