Senior co-captain Emily Mechem put up career numbers by scoring five goals, three of which came in the first half. Mechem proved her leadership capabilities by keeping the Lions in the game with her emotion.

When the final second ticked off the clock, she sprinted off the field yelling and screaming, running right to coach Julie Williams and giving her a big hug.

"I talked to her last week about kicking it in sooner, playing the first half fiercely as she does in the second half," Williams said. "And she did that today. She was hustling everywhere, she was one of my better defenders and she kicked it in both halves. She's a lion out there, she's lionhearted."

Coming into the game Mechem led the team in points with 10 and was second in goals with eight, behind senior teammate Colleen O'Brien's nine.

After the first game of the season against No. 1 Maryland, Mechem said she wasn't too pleased with her play, but now feels it is all coming together.

"I feel a lot better," Mechem said. "I've been getting a lot of shots over the past week while we were in Nashville. I got a lot of shots that I wasn't converting to goals. I've been getting the shots but I haven't been executing. (Yesterday) I feel I was shooting a lot better."

Junior attacker Christine Kenney also made her presence known against James Madison by netting a career-high four goals, three of which came in the second half. Last season, she finished with six goals.

Kenney finished her day by scoring a goal with 1:30 left in the game after returning from a wrist injury she suffered minutes before.

"The pain didn't go away, I just tried to forget about it," said Kenney, who had her wrist wrapped in a big ice bag after the game. "I wanted to get back in so I told them that I was all right, but now it's throbbing."

Kenney is coming off a stress fracture to her left shin that sidelined her for the second half of last season, but her teammates are happy to see the great strides she's making early on this year.

"You know she wants to be out there on the field and she had to fight through a bunch of injuries," Mechem said. "She's just a tough competitor and she did a really great job today."

It takes one to know one.