Northwestern Gets Big Road Win at Maryland

Izzy Scane and Madison Taylor each scored six goals as No. 2 Northwestern’s offense got hot in a 17-9 victory at No. 6 Maryland. The win creates a three-way tie at the top of the Big Ten with Maryland, Michigan and Northwestern all sporting 3-1 records.

Maryland took a 4-3 lead on Hannah Leubecker’s first quarter goal with 6:32 left in the period, but was outscored by Northwestern 11-1 over the next 33 minutes. Taylor scored four of her goals during the run and Scane had three of hers.

Maryland had a 19-10 advantage in draw controls in the game, led by Shaylan Ahearn with 10, but the Terps committed 22 turnovers in the contest. Maryland goalie Emily Sterling made nine saves in the first half to keep the Terps within striking distance, but Northwestern scored nine second-half goals on just 12 shots.

Molly Laliberty made eight saves for Northwestern.

Top-ranked Notre Dame Handles Duke

Notre Dame’s first week atop the USA Lacrosse rankings was smooth sailing as the Irish controlled a surging Duke team 19-7. It was the sixth straight victory for No. 1 Notre Dame, which improved to 11-2 overall and 5-2 in the ACC. No. 19 Duke had a three-game winning streak snapped and fell to 9-6 and 3-4 in the ACC.

The victory was the 148th for Christine Halfpenny in her Notre Dame career and she became the school’s all-time leader in wins, passing former head coach Tracy Coyne.

Duke struck first on a goal by Caroline DeBellis, but Notre Dame answered back quickly, stringing together five goals – by five different players – in a span of less than four minutes and Duke never got closer than three goals the rest of the way.

Five Notre Dame players registered hat tracks and the Irish were led by Arden Tierney’s six-point effort on three goals and three assists. Also finishing with three goals were Madison Ahern, Kasey Choma, Abby Maichin and Jackie Wolak.

ABBY MAICHIN NO-LOOK 😱#GoIrish | #SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/K7LA4PBM6S

— Notre Dame Women’s Lacrosse (@NDWomensLax) April 6, 2024

Katie DeSimone led Duke with three goals.

Dramatic Rally Results in Hopkins OT Win

Trailing Rutgers by three goals with under two minutes to play, No. 9 Johns Hopkins pulled off an incredible rally with three goals in regulation to force overtime and then beat the Scarlet Knights 13-12 in extra time.

Cassidy Spilis gave Rutgers a 12-9 lead on her tally with just 2:31 remaining in the game. Hopkins turned the ball over after winning the draw, but quickly got it back and Maeve Barker scored with 1:49 left.

Hopkins won the next two draws and Marielle McAteer quickly scored two goals, tying the game with 43 seconds left.

Four-and-a-half minutes into overtime Bailey Cheethum scored the game-winner off an assist from Ava Angello to give Hopkins its 10th victory of the season.

OT | 1:30
JHU-13, RU-12

BAILEY CHEETHAM CALLS GAME!#GoHop pic.twitter.com/zpkonaDpvD

— Hopkins Lacrosse (@HopkinsLacrosse) April 6, 2024

Barker led Hopkins with five goals while Angello and McAteer each scored three goals. Spilis led Rutgers with five goals.

The Rest of the USA Lacrosse Top 20

No. 3 Syracuse stayed perfect in the ACC (7-0) and won its eighth straight game – a 16-7 win over Pittsburgh. Emma Tyrrell led the Orange with six goals and Syracuse jumped out to a 12-1 halftime lead in cruising to the win.

No. 7 Michigan scored the first five goals of the game in a 15-10 win over Penn State. Kaylee Dyer led the Wolverines with four goals and two assists and Erin O’Grady made 10 saves.

Sydni Black had a game-high six points, including the 200th of her career, as No. 8 Loyola dominated Lafayette 17-3. Chase Boyle and Georgia Latch each scored three times for the Greyhounds (11-1, 6-0 Patriot League).

No. 10 Virginia outscored Louisville 5-1 in the fourth quarter to break open a tight one and beat the Cardinals 13-8. Mackenzie Hoeg had four goals for the Cavaliers, Jenna Dinardo had three goals and an assist and Morgan Schwab had a goal and three assists. Virginia improved to 11-3 overall and 4-3 in the ACC and got 10 saves from Mel Josephson.

No. 11 James Madison scored five straight goals to break a 9-9 tie and post a 14-10 win over Temple. Isabella Peterson’s goal with 54 seconds left in the third quarter gave the Dukes a 10-9 lead and then JMU scored the first four goals of the fourth quarter. Maddie Epke had five goals and 11 draw controls for JMU and Katelyn Morgan scored four times. The Duke are 3-0 in the American Athletic Conference heading into a big showdown at Florida next Saturday.

Olivia Penoyer had eight points (3g, 5a) as No. 12 Denver won its sixth straight game, beating Marquette 20-6. Lauren Black added four goals, four draw controls and two caused turnovers for the Pioneers.

No. 13 Florida made it 12 straight wins with a dominating 19-7 victory at East Carolina. Maggie Hall (5g, 1a), Emily Heller (4g, 2a) and Sarah Falk (4g) paced the Gator offense. Florida is 12-2 overall and 3-0 in the AAC.

No. 14 Stony Brook improved to 5-0 in the CAA with a 17-4 victory over Delaware. Stony Brook scored the first eight goals of the game. Kailyn Hart scored seven goals for the Seawolves.

Alyssa Long scored six goals, including one late in the third quarter that broke a 7-7 tie as No. 16 North Carolina pulled away for an 11-8 victory over upset-minded Virginia Tech. UNC improved to 33-0 all time against the Hokies.

No. 17 Princeton followed up its midweek win over Penn by scoring a season-high 24 goals in a 24-12 Ivy League win at Columbia. Princeton scored 10 times in the first quarter, three of them by McKenzie Blake. Blake finished with a game-high five goals and Kari Buonanno added four goals as the Tigers won their fourth straight game to improve to 7-3 and 3-1 in the league.

No. 18 Stanford stayed unbeaten in Pac-12 play with a 19-5 victory over San Diego State. Annabel Frist had five goals and 14 draw controls as the Cardinal won their third straight game.

Notable

Libby Rowe scored the final two goals of the game as Fairfield escaped with an 11-10 victory over Mount St. Mary’s. Rowe’s four goals led Fairfield, which has now won 11 straight games since dropping its season opener to Holy Cross.

Harvard won its third game in seven days, beating Cornell 13-5 to improve to 3-1 in the Ivy League. Riley Campbell scored five goals and the Crimson defense forced Cornell in 22 turnovers.

Brown jumped out to an early 9-1 lead and picked up a key 18-11 Ivy League win over Dartmouth. The win was the ninth of the season for Brown and first-year head coach Katrina Dowd, the most ever for a coach in their first year for Brown. Greta Criqui scored five goals and Annie Burton had two goals and six assists.

Ella Heaney scored five goals as USC beat Oregon 19-8 to remain perfect in the Pac-12. The Trojans travel to Stanford on Saturday for a matchup of the Pac-12’s two unbeaten teams.