USF's quest to win the American Conference women's lacrosse tournament and clinch an NCAA tournament bid died Saturday in a blitz of goals by James Madison in the championship game. The Dukes dumped the Bulls for the second straight year in tournament final, winning a one-sided 17-7 decision.
Now, the Bulls must hope the tournament selection judges them by the body of work they amassed during the regular season instead of one uncharacteristically bad afternoon.
The Bulls entered the game with ranked 14th nationally in RPI and history is on their side in their argument for a bid. Since the tournament expanded in 2018, the best RPI to miss the tournament was No. 22. That has happened four times.
Of course, it also depends on how far the Bulls drop in RPI.
USF’s bid for the double in women’s lacrosse falls short
— The Bay Area Examiner (@The_BAE_Tampa) May 2, 2026
They were able to trip the Dukes up in the regular season, but a dominant JMU program found their way in the rematch.
A top 15 RPI coming in, it might be tight for the Bulls to get the at large in the NCAA tournament https://t.co/MCBZqHam8R
The game started great for USF when Sofia Chepenik scored exactly one minute to the contest. After that, however, things quickly unraveled for the Bulls. By the end of the first quarter, JMU led 6-3 and increased that to 8-4 by halftime.
The Dukes then blew the gamed open a third-quarter run that included three goals in 52 seconds. USF never solved their defense, going nearly 24 minutes at one point without a goal.
It was USF's first loss this season to a conference team and dropped the Bulls to 12-5 overall -- good, of course, but will it be good enough?
They'll find out around 9 p.m. on Sunday with the tournament selection show on ESPN-U.
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