TOWSON, Md. - Towson University women's lacrosse junior Natalie Sulmonte tied a season-high with four goals and six points, but James Madison scored the game-winning goal with just 1:18 remaining in overtime to lift the No. 4 Dukes to a 17-16 victory over the eighth-ranked Tigers Saturday at Unitas Stadium.

Towson (14-3, 5-1 CAA) had its nine-game win streak snapped and suffered its first loss in the last eight games at home. It was also the Tigers' first regular season home loss since March 5, 2017 when they fell to No. 3 Florida, 13-6, snapping a streak of 14-straight wins.

How It Happened

• Towson faced its largest deficit of the season on Saturday, 12-7 with 25:59 left in the second half ,before using a 9-4 run to tie the game for the fifth time and force overtime when senior Emily Gillingham netted her third goal of the game off an assist from Sulmonte with just 49 seconds remaining in regulation.
• After the game-tying goal, the Tigers won the ensuing draw and had a free position with just five seconds left before red-shirt senior Gabby Cha had her shot saved by the Dukes' Molly Dougherty to preserve the tie and send the game into overtime.
• James Madison (16-1, 6-0 CAA) won the opening draw to start overtime and had the first chance at the game-winning goal, but senior Tianna Wallpher came up with her second caused turnover of the game. However, the Towson turned the ball back over to the Dukes who hit the crossbar with nine seconds to play before sophomore Kiley Keating made a save on Morgan Hardt right in front with two seconds left.
• The Tigers had the first possession of the second half of the first overtime, but another turnover gave the ball back to James Madison when the CAA's leading scorer, Kristen Gaudian found the back of the net on a one-timer from Katie Kerrigan.
• For the second time this season, Towson trailed 3-0 to start the game before rallying back with four-straight goals to take a 4-3 lead. The other time was at Florida when the Tigers rallied for a 14-11 victory over the No. 6 Gators.
• From there, the team would go back-and-forth until the Dukes scored to goals just 32 seconds apart in the final three-plus minutes to take an 8-6 halftime lead.
• James Madison opened the second half by scoring four of the first five goals to stretch its lead to five before Towson scored four of the last six goals to tie the game at 16-16 and force the extra period.
• The Dukes totaled the game's only three shots in overtime and were still out-shot, 34-27. They also committed 51 fouls and 18 turnovers and were on the short end of an 18-12 margin in ground balls and a 19-16 advantage in draw controls.

Inside the Numbers

• James Madison was whistled for four yellow cards, allowed four man-up goals and allowed 18 free position shots.
• The Dukes' Molly Dougherty made eight saves to improve to 8-0 this season.
• With three goals, senior Kaitlyn Montalbano now has 130 for her career. She is currently ranked sixth in program history, three behind Meggie McNamara for fifth.
• Montalbano also started her 74th consecutive game for the Tigers, ranking her second in program history behind Michelle Dufault who holds the record at 76.
• Sulmonte totaled her her third game with at least four goals this season and her eighth game with at least three goals.
• Sulmonte also had six points in the win over No. 4 Penn State on February 18.
• With three goals, Gillingham leads the team with 43 this season and extended her goal scoring streak to 25 games.
• Today marked the highest-score contest in the 44-game history between the Tigers and Dukes.
• It was also the seventh time in the series that the game has needed overtime to decide a winner. Towson is now 5-2, including 3-2 at home.
• The last time Towson allowed 17 goals was May 12, 2017 in a 21-15 loss to High Point in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
• The Tigers are now 12-2 when scoring 10 or more goals this season and had its nine-game win streak snapped.
• Towson is now 5-1 when winning more draws than its opponent.
• James Madison has now won three in-a-row at Unitas Stadium. The last home win for the Tigers in the series came back on April 13, 2014.
• Saturday marked the 150th game for head coach Sonia LaMonica at Towson. She is now 99-51 (.660).
• Saturday was also the final regular season home game for Towson's seven seniors: Montalbano, Gillingham, Cha, Wallpher, Maddie Tribbe, Jenna Kerr, Eva Torncello and Steph Costa. The group has totaled a 51-23 record for a .689 winning percentage, a CAA championship in 2016 and two NCAA tournament appearances in 2016 and 2017.

Up Next for Towson

• The Tigers have secured the No. 2-seed in next week's Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Women's Lacrosse Championship and will played third-seeded Elon on Friday, May 4 at 6:30 p.m., at James Madison's Sentara Park.
• The game will be broadcast live on Lax Sports Network and Ben Rosenbaum of the Towson Sports Network will have a live audio feed at TowsonTigers.com.
• The Tigers defeated the Phoenix on the road, 10-4, back on April 13. The two teams will meet in the CAA semifinals for the second-straight season.