James Madison was struggling, losing four out of five games entering its CAA opener against rival and No. 11 Towson on Saturday. The Dukes needed to turn their season around in a big way.

Mission accomplished. James Madison looked like a team full of confidence en route to a 9-5 upset victory over Towson in a crucial conference game in Harrisonburg, Va. Kristen Gaudian score four goals to help the Dukes take command and hold on for the win.

The Tigers struck first with a goal from Natalie Sulmonte, but it was all Dukes for the rest of the first half. They put together a seven-goal run to take a 7-1 halftime lead. Gaudian had three goals during the run and Elena Romesburg scored both of her goals in addition.

Towson tried to mount a second-half comeback, scoring two of the first three goals coming out of halftime. However, the empty possessions added up and the Tigers ran out of time.

James Madison won an important draw control battle 10-5, and outshot Towson 22-13. Sulmonte had a trick for Towson, which snapped a four-game win streak.

Penn State Runs Away from Ohio State

No. 5 Penn State overcame an early three-goal deficit to run away with the 16-12 win over Ohio State. Madison Carter scored five goals and added an assist to help her team break the game open after a tight first half.

After the Nittany Lions took a 2-1 lead, Molly Wood and Baley Parrott took over, helping the Buckeyes score five of six goals to take a 6-3 lead. However, Abby Smucker and Carter combined for three straight goals to tie the game at 6-6 going into halftime.

Penn State scored the first five goals of the second half to take an 11-6 lead with 24:12 remaining in the game. Wood and Ohio State attempted to make comeback, but Penn State held onto the lead and finished off the win. 

The Nittany Lion had just three second-half turnovers and picked up 12 ground balls in the period to fuel the victory, despite Wood and Parrott both scoring four goals for the Buckeyes.

Eagles Fly Away from Cavaliers

No. 18 Boston College outscored No. 16 Virginia by six goals in the second half, leading to a 17-10 win in ACC play. Sam Apuzzo scored six goals, three in each half, to keep the Eagles ahead.

Boston College opened with five of the game’s first six goals, including two from Kenzie Kent, to take the early lead. Virginia responded with a four-goal rally to tie the game, aided by two goals from Besser Dyson. The teams went back-and-forth and the Eagles took a 8-7 lead at half,

Up 10-9 in the second half, the Eagles scored seven of the final eight goals to pull away from the Cavaliers. Kaileen Hart and Kate Weeks scored multiple goals in the rally to take control of the game late.

Boston College won the draw control battle 16-13 and outshot Virginia 34-31. Kasey Behr had a hat trick to highlight Virginia’s day.

Louisville Pulls the Upset of Virginia Tech

Meghan Siverson scored five points for Lousiville, including the game-winning goal in overtime, to lead Louisville to a 13-12 upset of No. 17 Virginia Tech in a back-and-forth ACC matchup. 

In a game that featured no scoring streaks of more than two goals, the Cardinals and Hokies went into halftime tied 4-4. Emma Harden had two goals in the half.

The scoring picked up in the second half, with six goals in the first 10 minutes of the period. Hannah Koloski starting to take over for the Cardinals, as did Kirstine Loscalzo for the Hokies, scoring a combined five goals in the half.

The second half featured ties at 7-7, 8-8, 9-9. 10-10, 11-11 and 12-12. Elise Kohl scored with 1:05 left in regulation to send the game to overtime, where Siverson finished it off with 5:01 remaining in the first period.

Koloski finished with four goals for Louisville, while Losclazo and Harden had the same for Virginia Tech.

Maryland cruises past Michigan

No. 1 Maryland used a big first half to blow the game open and dominate Michigan 20-7 in Big Ten play. Four different Terps — Megan Whittle, Kali Hartshorn, Jen Giles and Brindi Griffin — tallied hat tricks to lead the way.

Michigan kept within striking distance through the first 10 minutes, trailing 3-2 with less than 20 minutes left in the first half. From that point, Maryland put together a 10-0 run that spanned into the second half to put the game out of reach for Michigan. Whittle, Hartshorn and Taylor Hensh had multiple goals in the run.

The Terps lost the draw control battle 18-11, but they outshot the Wolverines 34-18 and had two more ground balls.

Gators Dominate Commodores

No. 3 Florida needed a bounce back win after falling to Maryland earlier this week, and it got one with a 16-6 victory over Vanderbilt on Saturday afternoon. Mollie Stevens scored four goals to fuel the Gators’ win.

The game was in hand for Florida from the beginning, as the Gators scored the first 14 goals through halftime. Stevens had three goals in the opening run, which saw seven of her teammates score.

Florida outshot Vanderbilt 22-12 in the one-sided first half, Jill Doherty scored twice to lead the Commodores.

NIKE/US LACROSSE TOP 20 SCOREBOARD

No. 1 Maryland 20, Michigan 7
No. 3 Florida 16, Vanderbilt 6
No. 5 Penn State 16, Ohio State 12
No. 6 Cornell 12, Rutgers 9
No. 20 James Madison 9, No. 11 Towson 5
No. 18 Boston College 17, No. 16 Virginia 10
Louisville 13, No. 17 Virginia Tech 12 (OT)

Florida Southern Holds Off Florida Tech

Shannon Mazza scored the game-winning goal in overtime to help No. 4 Florida Southern survive a furious rally from No. 11 Florida Tech and win 12-11. The Mocs led 8-4 in the second half before the Panthers mounted a comeback and eventually took the 11-10 lead with minute remaining.

Kendall kerge scored with nine seconds left to tie the game at 11-11 and send it to ovetime, where Florida Southern got the victory. Mazza finished with four goals for Florida Southern.

DIVISION II TOP 20 SCOREBOARD

No. 1 Adelphi 18, Southern New Hampshire 5
No. 2 Lindenwood 17, No. 15 West Chester 7
No 3 Le Moyne 10, Stonehill 6
No 4 Florida Southern 12, No. 11 Florida Tech 11 (OT)
No. 5 LIU Post 16, University of DC 3
No. 8 Queen's (N.C.) 22, Tusculum 8
No. 9 NYIT 17, No. 20 Bridgeport 3
No. 14 Mercyhurst 16, Kutztown 5
No. 19 Bloomsburg 5, No. 17 Slippery Rock 3
Indiana (PA) 11, No. 18 Shippensburg 5

Presuto Comes Up Big for Presuto

Kimberly Presuot had 14 saves for No. 6 Ithaca to help her team beat No. 13 St. John Fisher 12-9. With the game tied 5-5 in the second half, the Bombers scored five straight goals to grab some breathing room and held on for the win.

Ally Runyon had five goals for Ithaca, which improves to 8-1 on the season.

DIVISION III TOP 20 SCOREBOARD

No 3 Brockport 14, Oswego 3
No 4 Washington and Lee 17, Lynchburg 6
No. 5 Franklin & Marshall 14, Haverford 3
No. 6 Ithaca 12, No. 13 St. John Fisher 9
No. 8 William Smith 14, Vassar 4
No. 11 York 18, Marymount 9
No. 12 Cortland 20, New Paltz 6
No. 14 Catholic 20, Scranton 4
No. 16 Salisbury 13, St. Mary's 5
No. 20 Hamilton 13, Bates 5