Upset Saturday: UVA Beats Boston College, Penn State Tops Terps

A pair of high-profile Division I women’s lacrosse upsets prove that just about anything can happen in the throes of conference play.

In the ACC, No. 9 Virginia tied it against No. 4 Boston College with two seconds left in regulation, then Katia Carnevale (who assisted the equalizer) found Madison Alaimo for the overtime winner, leading the Cavaliers to a 13-12 win in Charlottesville.

All of this 🤩#GoHoos pic.twitter.com/eHym8CM2Ru

— Virginia Women's Lacrosse (@UVAWomensLax) April 13, 2024

The Eagles had taken a one-goal lead with 51 seconds left on a Ryan Smith free position goal, and it looked as if BC would earn possession off the draw, but Maggie Bostain caused a turnover to give the ball to Virginia and set up the Carnevale-Alaimo connection.

Virginia (12-3, 5-3 ACC) led by as much as five goals at 8-3 before Boston College (12-3, 6-2 ACC) stormed back and took a 9-8 lead after Emma LoPinto scored with 9:33 left in the third quarter. The sides jockeyed for a lead from there.

In the Big Ten, Penn State again clipped a top team, shocking No. 5 Maryland in College Park, 12-11. After Eloise Clevenger scored twice in the early portion of the fourth quarter to tie the score at 10 for Maryland, Penn State responded with goals from Lauren Saltz and Brooke Hoss to take a two-goal at 12-10.

When coupled with its win over reigning NCAA champion and former No. 1 Northwestern, Penn State (8-6, 3-2 Big Ten) all but assured its spot in the NCAA tournament on Saturday. Kristin O’Neill and Gretchen Gilmore each netted hat tricks, and Sydney Manning made 11 saves.

It was a brilliant show of resolve by Penn State, which trailed 6-1 with 3:18 left in the first quarter after Maryland (11-4, 4-2 Big Ten) came out strong. A five-goal run between the third and fourth quarters flipped the script for the Nittany Lions.

TOP 20 RESULTS

Rankings as of Monday, April 8.

No. 1 Notre Dame 20, Virginia Tech 9
No. 2 Northwestern 19, Ohio State 10
No. 3 Syracuse 15, Clemson 6
No. 9 Virginia 13, No. 4 Boston College 12 (OT)
Penn State 12, No. 5 Maryland 11
No. 7 Loyola 18, Boston University 7
No. 10 Yale 16, No. 20 Harvard 8
No. 11 Princeton 23, Brown 10
No. 12 Penn 11, Cornell 7
No. 15 Florida 15, No. 13 James Madison 7 — Game story here.
No. 17 North Carolina 16, Pitt 9
No. 18 Stanford 8, USC 6

NOTABLE

Navy 17, Army 11

After Army’s men’s team won Saturday’s Star Game, the Mids’ women’s team came out on top in Annapolis, 17-11. Navy maintained at least a two-goal lead from the end of the first quarter on, with Tori DiCarlo (four goals), Emily Messinese (three) and Mikayla Williams (three) pacing the Mids in front of 2,500 spectators.

No. 18 Stanford 8, USC 6

The Cardinal now stand alone atop the Pac-12, as Jordyn Case tallied five points and the Stanford defense caused 15 turnovers against its rival. Jay Browne, Case and Aliya Polisky scored during a 3-0 run spanning the second and third quarters, putting Stanford ahead 6-3. After USC made it 6-5, Stanford answered with two more goals of its own by Ailish Kelly and Case.

Temple 13, Cincinnati 9

Temple used an eight-goal run to erase an early three-goal deficit and beat Cincinnati. Belle Mastropietro produced a game-high seven points (three goals, four assists) for Temple, and Erin King added three goals. Katie Shallow and Maddie Barber combined to win 13 draws.

Holy Cross 13, Lehigh 11

Holy Cross scored seven of eight goals during a game-changing second-half run and improved to 5-1 in the Patriot League after its win over Lehigh. Sally Zinsner had five goals, and Isabela Miller had five assists.

High Point 20, Radford 10

The Panthers dropped 20 goals or more for the fourth straight game, improving to 4-1 in the Big South. Jordan Miles led High Point with five goals, though Kay Rosselli, Esprit Cha and Molly Brockamp each had a hat trick.