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Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world.

1. No. 14 Denver goes down.

A fourth-quarter rally wasn’t enough for No. 14 Denver men’s lacrosse to erase a slow start in a 15-14 loss to Villanova. The Wildcats jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first quarter and led 11-7 at halftime. Down 14-8 in the fourth quarter, the Pioneers came alive, scoring five-straight goals to get within 14-13 on an Alex Simmons tally with under four minutes left.

Matt Campbell put ‘Nova in front 15-13 with his fifth goal of the game with 20 seconds remaining, but Casey Wilson responded nine seconds later. Denver won the faceoff and called timeout, but Jack Hannah’s shot was blocked as time expired. 

The Wildcats will face No. 2 Georgetown for the Big East title. The Hoyas blasted Marquette 15-5 in the Big East nightcap. Graham Bundy, Jr. tallied four goals and two assists, and Declan McDermott scored four times. 

2. No. 1 Maryland, No. 3 Rutgers book tickets to Big Ten final.

No. 1 Maryland used strong second and third quarters to take down fourth-seeded Johns Hopkins 16-11 and advance to the Big Ten championship game. Logan Wisnauskas led Maryland with seven points on four goals and three assists. Garrett Degnon posted four goals for Hopkins. 

The win sets up a showdown with No. 3 Rutgers. Down 7-4 to No. 8 Ohio State at halftime, the Scarlet Knights used an 8-1 second-half run to come away with the 12-8 win. Mitch Bartolo paced Rutgers with four goals, Ross Scott and Ronan Jacoby each finished with hat tricks.

Elsewhere in men’s Division I, Jordan Hyde’s overtime winner pushed ASUN top-seed Utah over fourth-seeded Bellamarine 12-11. Utah will play Robert Morris, which edged Air Force 11-9.

Brett Dobson posted 27 saves in St. Bonaventure’s 12-10 win against Siena in the MAAC semis.

No. 18 Richmond advanced to the conference tournament final for the eighth time in its eight-year history after a 12-11 win over High Point. The Spiders will face a No. 7 Jacksonville team vying for its first league crown in the SoCon title game.

THURSDAY SCORES

America East
UMBC 7, Binghamton 6
Vermont 17, Albany 7

CAA
Delaware 19, Drexel 6
Towson 18, UMass 10

MAAC
Manhattan 13, Marist 12

NEC
Hobart 21, Bryant 5
No. 20 Saint Joseph’s 11, LIU 10

Check out NCAA Div. I Men’s Lacrosse Championship Central for a guide to this weekend’s action. 

3. Arizona State upends No. 13 USC in elusive upset Thursday.

After a wild ACC quarterfinal round that saw Duke and Syracuse make early exits, an upset win for Saint Joseph’s in the A-10 final and Oregon’s stunning victory over Colorado, Thursday’s scores were more predictable. No top seeds lost, and the favorites generally advanced. 

But leave it to the Pac-12 to throw a monkey wrench into an otherwise ho-hum scoreboard in the final game of the night. Third-seeded Arizona State took down second-seeded No. 13 USC 13-12 to advance to its first conference championship game. The Sun Devils, who are hosting the tournament, built an early 8-4 lead but found themselves down 11-10 when Maggie Brown scored from the 8-meter at 11:15 of the fourth, But three unanswered goals from Carley Adams, Taylor Pinzone and Mina Scott put ASU back in front, 13-11, with under three minutes to play. Claudia Shevitz brought USC within 13-12 with 32 seconds left, but that’s as close as the Trojans would get. 

Elsewhere, Emma LoPinto’s five-point afternoon led No. 7 Florida by East Carolina 17-8. The Gators have a chance to win their third consecutive AAC title Saturday against third-seeded Vanderbilt, which likely burst second-seeded Temple’s NCAA Tourney bubble with an 11-10 overtime win. Gabby Fornia scored with 11 seconds left to force overtime and then scored the game-winner.

No. 12 Denver’s sixth-ranked scoring defense limited UConn’s fourth-ranked scoring offense to its lowest goal output of the season in a 16-6 rout in the Big East semifinal. The Pioneers will look to punch their ticket to the NCAAs Saturday when they play Georgetown, which beat Marquette 17-13. 

Livy Rosenzweig became the fourth Greyhound to reach the 200-point mark in Loyola’s 19-5 win over Lehigh. Loyola and Navy will clash in the Patriot League title game. Navy handled archrival Army 16-6 in the second semifinal. 

In the NEC, Wagner and Mount St. Mary’s played one of the most contested matches of the day. The Seahawks rallied from a six-goal third-quarter deficit, but a game-tying goal from Christina Haspert forced overtime. In the extra session, Haspert scored again to lift the Mountaineers to a 12-11 victory. They’ll look to defend their tournament title against co-regular season champion and top-seed Bryant.

THURSDAY SCORES

ASUN
Jacksonville 20, Coastal Carolina 7
Kennesaw State 21, Liberty 6

America East
Albany 16, UMBC 13
Vermont 13 Binghamton 12

MAC
Central Michigan 15, Kent State 5
Robert Morris 22, Youngstown State 14

Pac-12
No. 17 Stanford 21, Oregon 9
Arizona State 13, No. 13 USC 12

Patriot League
No. 6 Loyola 19, Lehigh 5
Navy 16, Army 6

Check out NCAA Div. I Women’s Lacrosse Championship Central for a guide to this weekend’s action. 

4. Team USA, Athletes Unlimited to square off at Stony Brook.

The U.S. women’s national team will play a public exhibition game against Athletes Unlimited as part of a three-day training camp to gear up for the World Lacrosse Women’s World Championship. First draw is set for Wednesday, June 8 at 7:30 p.m. 

Fans will be able to watch some of the world’s greatest players, including Taylor Cummings and Kayla Treanor. The game will be a homecoming for Long Islanders Sam Apuzzo (West Babylon), Kylie Ohlmiller (Islip) and Ally Kennedy (North Babylon). Pre-sale tickets are $14. USA Lacrosse Members can grab tickets at a discounted price of $12. Groups of 10 or more can purchase tickets for $10.

Individual tickets | Group Tickets

5. USA Lacrosse Magazine introduces UNTOLD.

USA Lacrosse Magazine is giving athletes, coaches, fans and members of the lacrosse community the power of the pen. We want to hear your stories and what it means within the context of the sport of lacrosse. You can submit a description of your idea to Kenny DeJohn (kdejohn@usalacrosse.com) with UNTOLD in the subject line. If accepted, an editor will help you tell your authentic story in your own words. Learn more here. 

WHAT WE’RE READING

  • USC’s Kelsey Huff is wearing her heart on her jersey in honor of her father.

  • The Chris Sailer farewell tour continues when No. 11 Princeton takes the field for the Ivy League semifinals tonight. Last weekend on that same field in New Jersey, the legendary coach got emotional when she addressed a crowd full of former players after her final regular-season game — a championship-clinching win over Yale.  

  • Saint Joseph’s defenseman Logan Blondell was noticeably absent during the Hawks’ regular-season game against LIU, which clinched a spot in the NEC championship. But as Mark Macyk writes, Blondell had a good reason. (He played Thursday in the semifinal and had a caused turnover.) 

  • The Ivy League is back after a nearly two-year, pandemic-induced hiatus, and the competition has been worth the wait.

  • The Northwood girls’ lacrosse team has gone from perennial cellar-dwellers in the D.C. area to division champions. 

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

Loyola toppled Lehigh 19-5, all but ending the Mountain Hawks’ season. But that didn’t discourage Emma Eberhardt from giving us one last goal for the highlight reel. 

Anthony Datellas’ third goal of the day for Hobart was rather stylish 

WHAT’S ON TAP

What isn’t on tap as we head towards Selection Sunday? Highlights for today include:

  • The men’s Patriot League semifinals start with Lehigh and No. 19 Boston University at 4 p.m. Loyola and No. 15 Army follow at 7 p.m. 

  • After a crazy finish to the regular season, the men’s Ivy League tournament begins. No. 10 Cornell and No. 6 Yale play in the first semifinal at 6 p.m., and No. 11 Penn and No. 5 Brown take the field at 8:30 p.m.

  • On the women’s side, regular-season champion No. 3 Maryland and Johns Hopkins open the Big Ten tournament at 5:30 p.m. Defending tournament champion No. 4 Northwestern plays host to No. 14 Rutgers at 8 p.m. 

  • Yale and Cornell play in the women’s Ivy League semifinal at 4 p.m., and regular-season champion No. 11 Princeton and Harvard begin at 7 p.m.

  • Records can fall in the coming days. Charlotte North needs three goals to tie former Stony Brook attacker Courtney Murphy’s career record of 341. Last year, North scored 102 goals to break Murphy’s single-season mark. But that one could be history soon, too. High Point’s Abby Hormes has 93 goals. HPU is the top seed in the Big South Tournament and will face Gardner-Webb Friday at 1 p.m.

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