Trailing by two at halftime, No. 7 North Carolina upsets undefeated No. 6 Virginia 13-9, rebounding from its seven-goal loss to Florida one week ago.

"This was a great win for our team today and just the way we wanted to start the ACC season," UNC coach Jenny Levy said.  "It was a total team effort. The first half was ugly but I felt we were in the game and just needed to make a few adjustments to get into rhythm. In the second half we were scrappy, tough and together. The combination of draw controls and defensive stops gave us momentum and the opportunity to get into offensive rhythm."

Kara Klages opened the scoring for the Tar Heels nearly one minute in, but the Cavaliers, still confident from its win over Syracuse last Sunday, tallied three straight goals, all from Sammy Mueller to go up by two.

Marie McCool and Charlotte Sofield then responded for North Carolina to knot it at three, but Virginia finished the first half with a 3-1 run to have a 6-4 advantage at the break.

Both teams exchanged scores in the first nine minutes of the second half before the Tar Heels exploded for a lead that never disappeared.

“We got a little tired and we didn’t dig as deep as we needed to in order to beat a good Carolina team,” said Virginia coach Julie Myers.

Katie Hoeg brought the score within one at the 21:23 mark. Then, Maggie Bill, who has made an impressive return from her injury this season, found the back of the net two minutes later to tie it 7-7 – and the Tar Heels never looked back.

North Carolina finished the game on an 8-2 run, but the Cavaliers’ two tallies after the Tar Heels’ two four-goal spurts were too late.

MAGGIE BILL IS BACK!

With her game-tying goal in the second half to knot it at 7, No. 7 @uncwlax never looked back after trailing by two at halftime, handing No. 6 @UVAWomensLax its first loss of the year, 13-9.

Stats Hoeg: 4PTs. Bill: 3PTs. McCool: 2CT, 3G, 5GB, 6DC. pic.twitter.com/x2G4Z07y2R

— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) March 10, 2018

Hoeg had a team-high four points for UNC, while Bill finished with three points. McCool led the way with a hat trick, two caused turnovers, five ground balls and six draw controls.

Redshirt freshman goalie Taylor Moreno made her first career start and made 17 saves on Virginia’s 26 shots on goal.

"Obviously, the play of goalie Taylor Moreno was outstanding," Levy said. "She was great between the pipes and had a big impact on the game today."

The Tar Heels also led in ground balls 18-16 and draws 15-9. They advance to 4-2 on the season and 1-0 in the ACC.

“Carolina played a great second half,” said Myers. “We were a little bit flat. Time and again, Carolina beat us to the draw. They had so many more opportunities and possessions. In our first five games, we were winning the majority of the draws, and especially the important draws. Today was the opposite. Carolina needed it and they found a way to win them.”

Virginia records its first loss of the season and is 1-1 in the ACC.

Loyola Upsets Princeton

While No. 12 Princeton had a strong start, leading 3-1 10 minutes in, No. 19 Loyola likely solidified its spot as Top 20 team with a 13-7 upset of the Tigers.

The Greyhounds responded with a four-goal run to lead by two at the 7:35 mark – including two goals from Hannah Powers – before an even 2-2 score in the final five minutes of the first half.

While Powers was faceguarded, they opened the second period with three straight goals led by two tallies from Taylor VanThof.

Princeton got its first score midway through the half from Kathryn Hallett, but Loyola came back with two more goals for a six-goal lead with 10 minutes to play.

The Tigers had one last tally from Kyla Sears before Frankie Kamely sealed the deal for Loyola with a goal with just 1:36 remaining on the clock.

Greyhounds goalie Kady Glynn had 13 saves to match their 13 goals on Princeton’s 30 shots. The draw won the game for them as they dominated the midfield 15-6, with seven controlled by VanThof and six by Livy Rosenzweig.

Loyola saw hat tricks from Elli Kluegel, Kamely and VanThof, while Princeton was led by three-point efforts from Hallett and Sears.

After two losses to start 2018, the Greyhounds are now on a three-game winning streak – defeating Penn State, Towson and now Princeton.

Princeton is also 3-2 on the year with victories over Temple, Lehigh and Brown.

FINAL: Kamely seals the deal with lucky goal in No. 19 @LoyolaWLax's 13-7 upset of No. 12 @princetonwlax. | Tricks: Kamely, Kluegel & VanThof. Powers: Team-high 4PTs. pic.twitter.com/9NWMBceLUm

— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) March 10, 2018

Penn Dominates Georgetown

The No. 17 Hoyas got some attention with an upset of Johns Hopkins, but No. 9 Penn quickly silenced them with an 18-6 dominating rout.

The Quakers remain undefeated at 6-0 on the year for the first time since 2015. The win marks the second time they have scored 18 goals this season, the first time a Penn team has done that since 2012 and just the fifth time in program history.

It was an even battle for a majority of the first half as Penn and Georgetown were tied 4-4 with just 3:11 remaining in the period. Quakers’ Erin Barry scored one last tally with under two to play to hand a one-goal lead at halftime.

Then Penn went cruising.

The Quakers opened the second period with six straight goals before Georgetown got its first score at the 14:27 mark. But they fired off another seven goals to pull away. The Hoyas got one last goal in with 18 seconds to play, but it was to no avail.

While Georgetown snagged more ground balls, Penn dominated the draw 20-5.

Gabby Rosenzweig and Barry led Penn with five goals apiece, while Zoe Belodeau had five points (one goal, four assists) and Alex Condon had four points (two goals, two assists). Belodeau also added 13 draw controls.

Games of Note

• With a 16-8 win over Rutgers, No. 2 James Madison improved to 7-0 on the season, which is its best start in 30 years. In 1988, the Dukes opened with a program-best 9-0 record. “JMU is a really good team this year,” said coach Shelley Klaes-Bawcombe.

• Junior Carly Tellekamp scored her 100th career point in No. 8 Towson’s 15-3 victory over Coastal Carolina.

• Dominating San Diego State 19-8, No. 5 Boston College is on its second longest win streak in program history. With eight goals in the win, Sam Apuzzo broke 200 career points and now has 203.

• Duke freshman attacker Charlotte North scored a single-game, program-record eight goals and added one assist in its 21-12 win over Louisville to tie the program record for most points in a game. Junior attacker Olivia Jenner, one game removed from becoming the program all-time career draw controls leader, had a career-best 15 draws.

• Harvard escaped Bryant 19-18 thanks to senior midfielder’s Julia Glynn’s 11 points on eight goals and three assists, despite falling in the second half by one goal. The eight goals were the second most in a single game by a Harvard player in program history.

Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Top 20 Scoreboard

No. 2 James Madison 16, Rutgers 8
No. 5 Boston College 19, San Diego State 8
No. 7 North Carolina 13, No. 6 Virginia 9
No. 8 Towson 15, Coastal Carolina 3
No. 9 Penn 18, No. 17 Georgetown 6
No. 13 USC 14, Arizona State 3
No. 14 Northwestern 20, Marquette 9
No. 18 Johns Hopkins 15, Hofstra 6
No. 19 Loyola 13, No. 12 Princeton 7

Other Scores

Brown 20, Monmouth 10
Colgate 10, Davidson 9
Cornell 17, Columbia 5
Denver 21, Niagara 10
Duke 21, Louisville 12
Fresno State 14, Sacred Heart 7
George Mason 13, William & Mary 5
George Washington 16, Bucknell 9
Harvard 19, Bryant 18
High Point 20, Marist 9
Lafayette 13, St. Bonaventure 5
LIU Brooklyn 19, Hartford 2
Longwood 19, Howard 5
Manhattan 12, Wofford 3
Radford 21, Butler 12
Richmond 15, Old Dominion 5
Saint Francis 12, ECU 7
UMBC 16, Duquesne 10
Villanova 20, Drexel 12
Winthrop 19, Kennesaw State 15

Division II Scores of Note

No. 1 Florida Southern 19, No. 8 Mercy 12
No. 4 Le Moyne 12, No. 5 LIU Post 7

Division III Scores of Note

No. 1 TCNJ 15, Dickinson 2
No. 13 Hamilton 11, No. 16 Colby 9
Franklin & Marshall 9, No. 11 Cortland 8
Rowan 19, No. 12 Catholic 18
Christopher Newport 16, No. 20 Meredith 15