HARRISONBURG — In 1997, Shelley Klaes-Bawcombe was the only senior on the James Madison women’s lacrosse team.

That same year, a group of eight freshmen joined the Dukes with eyes set on making JMU into a national powerhouse. It immediately became clear to Klaes-Bawcombe — now Madison’s coach — that she needed to be a leader for this younger cast.

“They all had so much presence, they were just a huge part of our team so early,” Klaes-Bawcombe said. “I remember wanting to do anything I could to help them and us come together as a team.”

The Dukes would reach No. 3 in the nation that season en route to winning the Colonial Athletic Association before losing in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals to Temple. It was the first of three straight seasons the Dukes would fall one game shy of the semifinals.

But in 2000, when the players Klaes-Bawcombe took under her wing were seniors, the Dukes broke through for the first time and beat Virginia 12-5 to advance to the national semifinals. It was a moment several members of that team attributed to the lessons Klaes-Bawcombe taught them three years earlier.

“Any success that the 2000 team had, we owe a large part of that to Shelley’s leadership when she took [eight] freshmen under her wings,” said Julie Martinez Bowles, a second-team All-American senior attacker on the 2000 team. “She really was a leader then, and is obviously a leader now.”

Similar to this year’s squad, the 2000 team faced a bevy of ranked opponents over the course of the season. Eleven of its 18 games came against teams that finished the season ranked in the top 20, seven of which came against top-10 teams.

Alivarian Jorgensen, who was a consensus first-team All-American midfielder as a senior in 2000, said there was an unwavering confidence within the team that gave it an edge over those quality opponents.

“I honestly think that even if we did end up losing the game, all of us were confident that we were going into every game that we would win,” said Jorgensen, who was Alivarian Coates when she played at JMU. “Sometimes we were wrong, but that confidence — it wasn’t an arrogance because we knew it would come with work. There was a confidence within the team and it was confidence in each other.”

That 2000 team was the only JMU squad to qualify for the Final Four until this year, when Klaes-Bawcombe led the Dukes back as a coach with a senior class similar to the one that powered Madison to its first appearance. Many of the things she said about the class of 2000 as a senior in 1997 are applicable to the senior class she is currently coaching.

“I remember being quoted about [the 2000 class’] speed and tenacity, and that completely resembles this group that we’re working with here today,” Klaes-Bawcombe said. “They play with such personality, both groups of women, and anybody that can play with that kind of confidence and allow their emotions come through in their play on the field, there’s a reason why they make a mark on a program like JMU.”

Bowles said when Klaes-Bawcombe was first hired as JMU’s coach in 2007, the alumni base that played with Klaes-Bawcombe knew that the program would return to its former glory. There was a sense that a former Duke would be able to inherently understand what it would take to bring Madison back into the spotlight.

Both Bowles and Jorgensen said they were a bit surprised it took JMU 18 years to return to the national semifinals. However, both admitted the growth of the sport and the challenges that came with it once the Dukes fell off the national stage made it harder to return.

Jorgensen said Klaes-Bawcombe had the right approach to building the Dukes into a team worthy of being on the sport’s biggest stage.

“I think it was patience and Shelley’s ability to lead and take chances on kids to see what a player can be, and sometimes it takes years to get them all to JMU,” Jorgensen said. “There is something about not always being the underdog per se, but it takes a lot of development for the players that come to JMU and Shelley has done an amazing job at developing players and she’s found the right players.”

And the alumni hope now that Madison has broken the seal, it can stay on the national landscape for years to come. Bowles said she had the confidence the Dukes would be a national power when she committed in the mid-1990s, and still believes the resources are there for Madison to make regular visits to the national semifinals.

“I hope this current team puts JMU back on the map and we continue to be a national powerhouse,” Bowles said. “When I was recruited back in 1995, that’s what I believed that’s what this program was going to be. I have always believed that, I have never wavered.”

Bowles and many of her former teammates are headed to Stony Brook, N.Y., this weekend to cheer on the Dukes in the semifinals Friday at 5 p.m. against North Carolina. She said the excitement within the alumni base for this year’s team is unrivaled compared to previous years.

“We have never been more excited for a JMU lacrosse team than we have been for this team,” Bowles said. “It’s really such a thrill to be watching this team from afar. ... If there ever was a team that can win a national championship, it is this group of girls.

“I can’t wait to see these girls put JMU back on the map.”