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

1. Loyola women’s lacrosse keeps rolling. The No. 13 Greyhounds and No. 7 Virginia battled it out in the most exciting game on Wednesday night. 

Taylor VanThof and Ellie Kluegel combined for nine points to lead Loyola to the 19-18 win in an absolute shootout. The Greyhounds led 11-6 early in the second half and withstood multiple rallies to clinch its fourth consecutive quality win.

Kluegel’s goal with 1:21 left proved to be the game-winner before Virginia cut the deficit to one on an Avery Shoemaker goal 30 seconds later.

Sammy Mueller led the Cavaliers with five goals, while Shoemaker and Maggie Jackson had four each. 

‘Hounds with another upset win over No. 7 Virginia #aintnodog pic.twitter.com/n5wH4npCTL

— Loyola Lacrosse (@LoyolaWLax) March 15, 2018

Elsewhere in a packed women’s slate

• In the biggest shocker of the night, High Point picked up its third-ever win over a ranked opponent when it got past No. 20 Notre Dame 13-7. Tied 6-6 in the second half, High Point scored six straight goals to pull away from the Irish. Daria Poulin and Erica Perrotta each had hat tricks in the biggest win in program history.

• Maria Auth scored a career-high six goals to lead No. 18 Penn State to a 22-9 win over Drexel. Madison Carter chipped in four goals for the Nittany Lions.

• No. 14 Towson shut out Saint Joseph’s in the first half en route to a 13-2 victory on Wednesday night.

• Miranda Ibello dropped eight points on two goals and six assists to lead No. 17 Johns Hopkins past UMBC 13-9.

• Down goes No. 1 in Division III, as No. 14 Wesleyan scored four unanswered goals in the second half to upset TCNJ 7-6. Caitlin Wood scored the game-winner with 1:51 left, helping cap a rally that started after TCNJ took a 4-0 lead in the first half.

More Wednesday Scores of Note:

No. 11 Cortland 16, No. 12 Catholic 8 (DIII Women at Tierney Field)

2. North Carolina was hit by the upset bug for the second straight game on Wednesday night, falling 11-10 at Richmond. The host Spiders jumped out to an early 6-2 lead and expanded it to as much as five goals in the third quarter, and the Tar Heels couldn’t claw back despite scoring five of the last seven goals.

Layne Collins had a hat trick in the first half to help Richmond take the 7-3 lead into halftime. Justin Anderson and Matt Cunningham took over for North Carolina in the second half, scoring all of the Tar Heels’ seven goals, but Ryan Lee’s goal with 8:10 left proved to be the game-winner.

In men’s action Wednesday:

MLAX: #Hofstra takes a 7-6 lead on a goal by Bryce Tolmie. #RoarWithPride pic.twitter.com/421wI6gP1N

— Hofstra Lacrosse (@HofstraMLAX) March 14, 2018

• Bryce Tolmie scored with 1:39 left to give No. 16 Hofstra the 7-6 lead and clinch the win over Monmouth. After a Hofstra turnover, Monmouth got two shots in the final minute, but neither could hit the cage. Ryan Tierney had three goals to lead the Pride effort.

• No. 18 Rutgers avoided the upset, taking down Lehigh 8-7 in a back-and-forth battle. Christian Mazzone and Kieran Mullins each had two goals for the Scarlet Knights.

• We had another upset in the Division III world. Washington and Lee dropped 10 first-half goals and held on to upset No. 3 Gettysburg 13-8. A.J. Witherell had three goals and two assists to fuel the upset win.

More Wednesday Scores of Note:

No. 5 Cabrini 9, No. 12 Ohio Wesleyan 8 (DIII)

No. 10 Wesleyan 15, Vassar 5 (DIII)

No. 13 Mount Olive 8, No. 19 Indianapolis 6 (DII)

No. 17 NYIT 11, No. 3 Pace 9 (DII)

No. 4 Colorado Mesa 11, Palm Beach Atlantic 10 (DII)

No. 14 Saint Leo 17, No. 18 Lindenwood 12 (DII)

No. 7 Tampa, 13, No. Belmont Abbey 12 (DII)

3. Two-time MLL All-Star Greg Downing announced he is retiring from his field career after 10 seasons. Most recently a member of the Denver Outlaws, Downing had 83 goals, 115 ground balls and won two MLL championships.

Downing, who was drafted by the Los Angeles Riptide in 2007, spent three different stints with the Outlaws (2009, 2012-13, 2015-17). He played a major role in the Outlaws’ 2016 championships game win, holding John Grant Jr. to just two goals in the title game.

Although his MLL career comes to an end, Downing is a member of the NLL’s Colorado Mammoth and said he will evaluate his future after the season.

Former teammates, coaches and fans went to Twitter to share their gratitude.

Congratulations to Greg Downing on his retirement from Major League Lacrosse. One of the Outlaws’ all-time great midfielders! https://t.co/EBhfIMmGGx

— Grant Larson (@GrantLarsonCSU) March 15, 2018

Greg will never see this because he doesn’t have Twitter but Greg has been an unbelievably important part of the locker room and anyone that watched the 2016 championship knows he was our MVP of those playoffs. Fun fact also the mvp of our softball team which he also retired from https://t.co/NOyH86cTBp

— jon cohen (@CoachCohen24) March 14, 2018

One of the best on the field and off. A true pro. Congrats on an incredible career GD!!! Lucky to have played with you. https://t.co/2vDjvd7IsW

— Ken Clausen (@KClausen27) March 14, 2018

Most underrated player of all time. Makes me sad to never suit up with my friend again. https://t.co/J5jXnijG4s

— Matt Bocklet (@Bocko7) March 14, 2018

Nothing but respect for Greg. We have been rivals during lizards outlaws games for years and he was always a major key to Denver's success https://t.co/cqDR7RU0hO

— T Palasek (@TomPalasek) March 14, 2018

4. The U.S. men’s national team will open play in the 2018 FIL World Championships against Iroquois Nationals on July 12. The full world championships schedule was released, which includes a matchup with Canada on July 15.

5. Kids say the darnedest things, and parents listen. Children have been the inspiration behind many of lacrosse’s most successful enterprises. 

From Gladiator Lacrosse’s Rachel Zeitz, to Tariro Kandemiri (a.k.a. Official Lax Girl), we list some of the top kid innovators.

• Speaking of innovation, Maryland coach John Tillman loves using the tablet during games. He was often found looking over in-game highlights during the Terps’ run to the 2017 national title. Inside the motivation for Tillman, a self-proclaimed “old guy,” and his use of the tablet.

6. Denison All-American Ben Duhoski has made a huge impact on the Big Red program during his almost four seasons. He’s certainly left a mark with coach Mike Caravana.

“Ben’s one of the top four or five guys I’ve coached here,” Caravana said. “He can do a multitude of things, and is such a good athlete where we can put him anywhere on the field.”

7. Arizona State is off to a hot start in its first season as a Division I program. At 5-1, the Sun Devils have started better than Pac-12 predecessors like USC and Colorado.

Coach Courtney Martinez Connor will lead Arizona State through the first Pac-12 season, looking to compete.

WHAT WE’RE READING

• There was little movement in the WCLA Division I National Top 20, but Colorado Club moved from No. 6 to No. 3 with a win over No. 20 Colorado State.

• Legendary former Delaware coach Bob Shillinglaw has joined the Chesapeake Bayhawks as an assistant.

• Campbell coach Dawn Easley shares an amazing story of her team’s tradition of getting ice cream after road wins, and a broken-down bus that kept it going.

• Freshman Sam Swart is settling into her role as a goal scorer for a high-powered Syracuse women’s lacrosse team.

• Utah is expanding its lead at the top spot of the MCLA Division I National Top 20.

• Pi Day was celebrated around the world Wednesday. It's more like what we’re looking at, but Towson men’s lacrosse got really creative with jerseys and the famous number.

Happy #PiDay everyone!  pic.twitter.com/1qpR0OZKCB

— TU Men's Lacrosse (@Towson_MLAX) March 14, 2018

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

Boston University needed every goal it could get in its double-ovetime win over Fairfield on Wednesday, including this #SCTop10 worthy goal from Kailey Conroy.

#SCTop10 score by Kailey during today's 11-10 2OT win at Fairfield! #GoBU pic.twitter.com/CWopeZiIdN

— BU Womens Lacrosse (@TerrierLacrosse) March 14, 2018

Paul Rabil continues his rise on social media, appearing on the official Instagram account. Last check, over 1.9 million people got a glimpse of lacrosse.

 

A post shared by Instagram (@instagram) on Mar 14, 2018 at 11:55am PDT

WHAT’S ON TAP

• Check out more stories from the innovation edition of US Lacrosse Magazine.

• We'll have a feature on Michigan gubernatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed, a former Michigan club player that has a diverse background.

• Subscribe today to our weekly email newsletter and stay connected to each week's top lacrosse stories. The newsletter goes out every Thursday.

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