HARRISONBURG, Va. – James Madison lacrosse has unveiled its 17-game, regular-season schedule for the 2023 season, which includes its first year as an affiliate member of the American Athletic Conference, head coach Shelley Klaes announced Thursday morning.
JMU is set to play eight games each on the road and at home, along with one neutral-site game.
The schedule features seven matchups against teams which reached the 2022 NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championship, including three quarterfinalists. Four 2023 opponents finished in the top 10 of the ILWomen/IWLCA Poll at the end of the 2022 season.
“JMU lacrosse is excited about our 2023 schedule,” Klaes said. “We are incredibly excited about our new opportunity in the American Athletic Conference. There are many great programs and several new cities on the schedule. We were able to retain several competitive non-conference opponents from prior years and have added some new exciting ones. We love that our fans will be able to follow us on ESPN+ and our athletes will get the exposure they deserve as we compete for championships in The American.”
Consistent with previous seasons, the Dukes will begin with ACC foes North Carolina (Feb. 11) and Virginia Tech (Feb. 15), with both matchups on the road this year. North Carolina went undefeated en route to capturing the 2022 national championship. This will be JMU’s first matchup against a defending national champion since playing 2017 champion Maryland during the 2018 season.
The Dukes will finish the February slate with a neutral-site matchup against UConn (Feb. 18) at the USA Lacrosse Headquarters in Sparks, Md., and a road matchup at High Point (Feb. 25).
The month of March opens the home slate with a high-profile bout against Maryland on March 1. The Dukes defeated the Terps 13-8 in College Park last season, marking its first top-5 win since 2018 and its first win over Maryland since 2003.
Other home matchups in March include Big Ten opponents Ohio State (March 4) and Johns Hopkins (March 11), in-state foe Virginia (March 22) out of the ACC and the conference opener against Florida, which is set for March 18. JMU’s last matchup against the Gators took place in the 2018 quarterfinals, an 11-8 victory that propelled the Dukes into the semifinals on its way to winning the program’s first national title.
The remaining non-conference games will feature in-state matchups at Liberty (March 8) and at home against Richmond (April 5). To close non-conference play, the Dukes will play one final Big Ten matchup at Rutgers on April 23.
After Florida, the Dukes’ will host Old Dominion (Apr. 1) and Cincinnati (Apr. 16) in AAC play. JMU will face conference road battles at Temple (March 25), Vanderbilt (April 8) and ECU (April 29). The 2023 American Athletic Conference Women’s Lacrosse Championship will be held May 4-6 at Howarth Field in Philadelphia.
Full 2023 James Madison Lacrosse Schedule (Home Games In Bold)
Date Opponent Location
Feb. 11 North Carolina Chapel Hill, N.C.
Feb. 15 Virginia Tech Blacksburg, Va.
Feb. 18 UConn Sparks, Md.
Feb. 25 High Point High Point, N.C.
Mar. 1 Maryland Harrisonburg
Mar. 4 Ohio State Harrisonburg
Mar. 8 Liberty Lynchburg, Va.
Mar. 11 Johns Hopkins Harrisonburg
Mar. 18 Florida* Harrisonburg
Mar. 22 Virginia Harrisonburg
Mar. 25 Temple* Philadelphia, Pa.
Apr. 1 Old Dominion* Harrisonburg
Apr. 5 Richmond Harrisonburg
Apr. 8 Vanderbilt* Nashville, Tenn.
Apr. 16 Cincinnati* Harrisonburg
Apr. 23 Rutgers Piscataway, N.J.
Apr. 29 ECU* Greenville, N.C.
May 4-6 AAC Championships Philadelphia, Pa.
*American Athletic Conference game
Complete game times will be announced at a later date and all dates and times are subject to change. All home games will be played at Sentara Park.
— JMU Athletics —
