Virginia Upsets Notre Dame as Schwab Sets Record

Virginia picked up the biggest win of the Sonia LaMonica era with a 12-10 victory at No. 6 Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon. The No. 15 Cavaliers are now 7-1 with an overtime loss to North Carolina as the only blemish in LaMonica’s first year as the head coach for the Cavaliers.

Senior Morgan Schwab scored twice and added four assists to become Virginia’s all-time assists leader. Schwab now has 132 in her career, passing the mark of 129 set by Lindsay Sheehan in 1986. Schwab’s 34 assists this season leads the country.

“She’s just such a phenomenal person and player,” LaMonica said. “She’s really embracing her role and she loves to set up her teammates. It’s just really and beautiful to watch her do her dance out on the field.”

Schwab tied the school record when she fed Mackenzie Hoeg less than a minute into the game, but Notre Dame had leads of 3-2 and 5-4 in the first half.

Schwab’s assist to Hoeg with 6:11 left in the first half broke the Virginia record and gave the Cavaliers a 7-6 lead that they never relinquished.

The Cavaliers (7-1, 2-1 ACC) led by as many four goals at 11-7 after back-to-back goals by Jenna Dinardo in the third quarter, but Notre Dame came back to get within 11-10 with 11:55 remaining in the fourth quarter. Hoeg’s fourth goal of the game with 7:19 was the final tally of the game and helped the Cavaliers clinch their first win in South Bend since 2018.

Schwab’s six points led Virginia, Hoeg had the four goals and Dinardo finished with three. Virginia goalie Mel Josephson made nine saves in the win.

Madison Ahern had three goals and an assist for Notre Dame (5-2, 1-2 ACC) and Kasey Choma and Mary Kelly Doherty each had two goals and an assist.

Johns Hopkins Holds Off Stony Brook Comeback

No. 11 Stony Brook, coming off a midweek win over Syracuse, made a spirited comeback, but No. 13 Johns Hopkins picked up a big win, beating the Seawolves 14-12 at the Crown Lacrosse Classic in Charlotte.

Leading 6-5 at halftime, Johns Hopkins ripped off seven straight goals to open the second half and seemingly take control of the game. However, Stony Brook closed the third quarter with four straight goals, including two in the final 17 seconds of the quarter to close the gap to 13-9.

Stony Brook continued the momentum into the fourth quarter, pulling to within 13-12 on Isabella Caporuscio’s goal with 7:23 remaining.

Stony Brooks’ Charlotte Verhulst won the ensuing draw and the Seawolves controlled the ball for a lengthy period of time as Johns Hopkins failed to clear successfully after a Madison Doucette save.

Johns Hopkins finally cleared the ball into its offensive end with about four minutes to play and then Abbey Hurlbrink iced the game with a player-up free position goal with 1:58 remaining.

Maeve Barker and Ashley Mackin each had hat tricks for the Blue Jays, who improved to 7-2 for the season. Doucette made 14 saves in the victory.

Stony Brook (5-1) suffered its first loss of the season. Kailyn Hart (4g, 1a) and Ellie Masera (2g, 3a) each had five points for the Seawolves.

Elsewhere in the USA Lacrosse Top 20

No. 4 Michigan continued to play lights out defense, shutting down Central Michigan 11-3 to improve to 8-0 for the season. Senior defender Maddie Burns had four caused turnovers and scored her first career goal in the win. Michigan has surrendered just 37 goals in eight games.

FIRST CAREER GOAL FOR MADDIE BURNS!!!#GoBlue〽️ pic.twitter.com/WqhhTG041t

— Michigan Women’s Lacrosse (@UMichWLAX) March 9, 2024

No. 5 Syracuse scored the first seven goals of the game and cruised past Virginia Tech 15-5. Emma Ward had three goals and three assists for the Orange who are just 4-3 overall but 3-0 in the ACC.

No. 7 North Carolina scored six straight goals after No. 20 Clemson scored the first goal of the game and Tar Heels cruised to an 18-9 victory. Sophomore Caroline Godine scored a season-high five goals, classmate Kiley Mottice scored four times and senior Caitlyn Wurzburger had three goals and three assists. Clemson’s Emily Lamparter made 16 saves.

No. 8 Loyola dominated its Charles Street rival Towson 16-3. The Greyhounds led 12-0 at the half and improved to 6-0 with the victory. Chase Boyle, last week’s USA Lacrosse National Player of the Week, had five goals, two assists and 13 draw controls. She scored her five goals consecutively after Loyola had jumped out to a 3-0 lead.

No. 16 Navy rebounded from its first loss of the season by winning 17-9 at Jacksonville. Navy scored 13 goals in the first half and Tori DiCarlo scored five in the victory.

No. 18 Yale avenged an overtime loss to Connecticut from last season in a big way. The Bulldogs dominated the Huskies 17-6 to stay perfect on the season with a 5-0 record. Jenna Collignon had five goals and seven draw controls and Fallon Vaughn added four goals and an assist.

Notable

Penn State snapped a three-game losing streak and opened Big Ten play with a 10-9 overtime win at Rutgers. The Nittany Lions were outscored 4-0 in the opening quarter, but held Rutgers scoreless for the first 25 minutes of the second half. Cassidy Spilis scored consecutive goals in the final five minutes of regulation for Rutgers to force overtime, but Gretchen Gilmore’s fourth goal of the game was the overtime winner for Penn State.

GRETCHEN GILMORE GOLDEN GOAL 🤩

OT 04:32 | PSU 10, Rutgers 9 pic.twitter.com/LDTcaGZ6iQ

— Penn State Women’s Lacrosse (@PennStateWLAX) March 9, 2024

Katie DeSimone had seven goals, including three in the fourth quarter, in Duke’ 13-11 win over Pittsburgh for the Blue Devils first ACC win of the season.

Ellie Horner made a season-high 14 saves, just two away from her career-high, as Cornell moved to 2-0 in the Ivy League with a 13-5 win over Columbia.

Aliya Polisky scored four goals and added two assists as Stanford won its fourth straight game, beating Army 17-8.

UMass-Lowell beat Presbyterian 15-4 to improve to 8-0 for the season, setting a school record for the most wins in a season. Megan Brockbank had four goals and three assists. The River Hawks will face their biggest test so far when they head to Brown next Saturday.

Gabby DiVirgilio had a career-high 10 points (4g, 6a) as Mercer outscored Coastal Carolina 24-20.

Fairfield has now won five straight since a season-opening 17-16 loss to Holy Cross. The Stags beat Drexel 12-5 behind four goals and two assists from Grace Slater.