Professional PLL
06:00 PM
Jul 19
Phi
Den
Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:
1. No. 1 Maryland cruised to an 18-8 win over No. 3 Florida in a women's lacrosse matinee yesterday in College Park, Md. Impressive, to say the least, for the Terps, who improved to 10-0 overall and 3-0, by an average of nearly eight goals per game, in contests against teams ranked fourth or better at the time. Sophomore goalie Megan Taylor made a career-high 20 saves, shutting down the Gators' high-powered offense and increasing her total in the aforementioned national showdowns to 48. Zoe Stukenberg shot 5-for-5 to lead Maryland offensively.
2. Another ranked matchup saw host No. 7 Princeton take a 9-2 first-half lead over No. 12 Syracuse and defeat the Orange, 16-11. Olivia Hompe scored a career-high seven goals and dished out two assists to lead the Tigers, who improved to 7-1. Goalie Ellie DeGarmo made a career-best 18 saves to help contain Syracuse, which fell to 8-4. Riley Donahue and Emily Hawryschuk each had hat tricks in defeat.
3. Elsewhere in Division I women, Delaware gave No. 4 Colorado everything it could handle in Newark before falling, 9-7. The Buffaloes kept pace with Maryland as the division's only unbeatens, thanks in part to Johnna Fusco's (pictured) three goals. No. 5 Penn State had an easier roadie, routing Drexel, 15-6. No. 15 Elon hosted unranked Duke (yes, you read that right), but the Blue Devils held off the new kids on the block, 10-9.
PHOTO BY KEVIN P. TUCKER
Johnna Fusco scored three goals to help unbeaten No. 4 Colorado survive a tough road test at Delaware, 9-7.
4. On the men's side, No. 10 Albany grinded out a 15-13 win at Harvard thanks largely to TD Ierlan, who set career-highs by winning 26 of 32 faceoffs and corralling 18 ground balls. Those numbers tied the single-game highs in Division I this season. Nine different Great Danes scored to lift Albany to 7-1.
5. Speaking of big road wins, how about Division III women's No. 13 St. John Fisher pulling away from a 6-6 halftime tie at No. 3 Brockport to win going away, 13-9? The 4-2 Cardinals had lost their last two games to drop eight slots in the Nike/US Lacrosse Top 20, but five of their players scored during the decisive second-half run.
6. In another wild renewal of the men's rivalry between No. 2 Ithaca and No. 9 Cortland, the visiting Bombers seemingly had the game well in hand after scoring eight of the game's first nine goals. They took a 10-3 advantage into intermision and led 11-4 midway through the third. But the Red Dragons scored seven straight to tie the game, and amazingly won it 2:53 into overtime when Nate Beresovoy scored his third goal of the game. Cortland improved to 7-0 and handed Ithaca its first loss in stunning fashion, though the teams needed overtime for the fourth time in their last five encounters.
7. Congratulations to Salisbury men's coach Jim Berkman, who became the first coach to win 500 games when the No. 1 Sea Gulls defeated Wesley, 26-4.
8. And finally, the road warrior theme continued into the high school ranks, as Nike/US Lacrosse National No. 14 Culver (Ind.) dethroned No. 1 McDonogh (Md.) in Owings Mills, 12-9.