CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – With anger in her voice, North Carolina All-American Marie McCool recited a few statistics after her team’s showdown with No. 4 Florida on Saturday. She knew the Tar Heels appeared to have played well against the Gators – on paper.

“We won 11 more draw controls, so right there that’s 11 more possessions than them,” said a visibly frustrated McCool, who finished the day with a team-high four goals. Shots, too, heavily favored the Tar Heels, 39-29.

But McCool knew the statistics weren’t telling the real story: Florida dominated the No. 2 Tar Heels, 17-10, holding North Carolina scoreless for the game’s first 15 minutes to open a 4-0 lead. The Gators never allowed UNC to fight back closer than three goals, and steadily pulled away in the second half.

“We just left more opportunities on the field,” said McCool. “They were a very physical team and I credit them for that, but we need to stay composed and we weren’t able to do so. I think that we just lost our poise.”

One statistic, though, stood out – Florida junior goalie Haley Hicklen’s 16 saves, a Florida record.

“The first couple shots in, I was feeling it,” Hicklen said. “You get a couple saves and then you’re just in the groove.”

Haley Hicklen sets a school record with 16 saves in No. 6 Florida’s 17-10 win over No. 3 North Carolina. #NCAAWLAX pic.twitter.com/RQoOkvreGM

— NCAA Lacrosse (@NCAALAX) March 3, 2018

Many of those shots seemed to come within just a few feet of the goal, as North Carolina’s swarming offense found open shots with quick feeds and backdoor passes, much as when they scored 16 against then No.1-Maryland a week ago.

But time after time, Hicklen turned them away.

At least once in each half, a Tar Heel shooter – Ela Hazar in the first half and Jamie Ortega in the second – found themselves directly in front of Hicklen’s crease only to see the junior wall off a point-blank shot.

“You don’t have time to think,” said Hicklen. “You just watch the ball and hopefully watch it all the way into your stick.”

Florida defenders also were credited with four blocks on UNC shooters, all on close-in shots.

“Haley was stellar,” said Florida coach Amanda O’Leary. “I think the defense kind of fed off [Hicklen’s play] and then the offense fed off that, so it was kind of a trifecta.”

Offensively, Florida’s Shayna Pirreca led the Gators with a career-high six goals, while Lindsey Ronbeck added five.

As they have in most games, the Tar Heels swapped goalies at halftime, from Elise Hennessey to Taylor Moreno. But neither had an answer for Pirreca’s long-range shots. In both halves, she ripped shots from near the 8-meter line past both goalies that, in each case, electrified her teammates and visibly deflated the Tar Heels.

The teams came into the game with identical 3-1 records, but with UNC having knocked off the No. 1 Terps in overtime last weekend while Florida lost a close 16-14 game to Maryland earlier in February.

UNC was also welcoming back All-American midfielder Maggie Bill in her first game after recovering from a knee injury.

But it was Florida that came out looking like the team trying to make a statement. Freshman Sabrina Cristodero shadowed McCool for most of the game, applying pressure that appeared to keep McCool from using her speed to open lanes and dodge.

Ela Hazar, who came into Saturday with 10 assists, recorded just one.

Florida also held UNC to 14 clears – 10 less than the Gators – reducing the normally wide-open Tar Heels to mostly half-field play.

“Sabrina did a great job on Marie,” said O’Leary. “Sabrina is a fantastic 1-V-1 defender as freshman. We put her to the test and she came up for us.

“We have the potential to have games like this. It was great to see us put a full 60 minutes in. We hadn’t done that [this season] and today we put it together.”

17 goals & 16 saves in a win at 3rd ranked North Carolina makes for a great Saturday. Checkout the highlights! pic.twitter.com/N4w8XCH69x

— Gators Lacrosse (@GatorsLAX) March 3, 2018

Loyola Upsets Penn State

Erasing a seven-goal deficit in the second half, unranked Loyola earned its first victory of the season with a 16-15 upset of No. 18 Penn State.

Trailing by three at the break, the Greyhounds responded to a four-goal PSU run to open the second half with a six-goal run of their own, with three of them coming from Taylor VanThof.

The Nittany Lions scored a goal four minutes later to regain a two-goal lead, but Loyola finished the game on top, outscoring them 3-1 in the final 10:45 to force overtime.

Hannah Powers, who tallied a hat trick on the day, scored the game-winner in extra time.

Livy Rosenzweig led the way for Loyola with five points (three goals, two assists) and seven draw controls. Hannah Savage also recorded five points on one goal and four assists. VanThof had four goals and Frankie Kamely netted a hat trick.

Madison Carter and Maria Auth combined for nine goals for Penn State.

Re-live all the moments from today's 16-15 win at Penn State for @LoyolaWLax! #GoHounds #AintNoDog pic.twitter.com/P5uKXsmEgU

— Loyola Greyhounds (@LoyolaHounds) March 4, 2018

Catch @LoyolaWLax Head Coach Jen Adams' thoughts on today's 16-15 overtime win over Penn State! #GoHounds pic.twitter.com/h8MiW2E6CR

— Loyola Greyhounds (@LoyolaHounds) March 3, 2018

Stony Brook Remains Unbeaten

In its first matchup as No. 1, Stony Brook downed No. 13 Northwestern, despite the Wildcats’ attempt to close the gap in the second half.

“This was a big road win against another Top 10 program,” Seawolves coach Joe Spallina said. “The greatest part of today's game was how our team dealt with adversity and responded. I thought our preparation this week was top-notch, as well. Our scout offense was the MVP of this game, and details like that are what makes good programs great."

The Seawolves led 6-3 at the break thanks to a hat trick from Courtney Murphy. Northwestern opened the scoring in the second half with back-to-back tallies from Kim Harker and Megan Kinna. Stony Brook then responded with a four-goal run with two scores apiece from Kylie Ohlmiller and Ally Kennedy.

Leading 4-1 over the next nine minutes, the Wildcats came within two at the 6:01 mark on a Danita Stroup tally, but their hope was short-lived as the Seawolves closed out the game with a 4-1 run of their own led by Taryn Ohlmiller’s two goals.

Taryn Ohlmiller recorded a team-high six points on two goals and four assists, while Kennedy was the leading scorer with four goals.

JMU’s Warden Sets Record

No. 2 James Madison advances to 5-0 on the season with a 19-7 win over Temple, marking its best start in seven years.

With five draw controls, senior midfielder Haley Warden broke the program record with 165 in her career, surpassing Gail Decker (2001-04). Her total sits seventh in CAA history.

“I actually got emotional on the sidelines today when Haley broke the record because I know what it means for our program and for Haley to make this happen in her hometown of Philadelphia,” JMU coach Shelley Klaes-Bawcombe said. “To be compared to and surpass and athlete like Gail Decker is a credit to all of Haley's hard work over the years. It was a great day for the Dukes."

Kristen Gaudian led the Dukes with five goals and Katie Kerrigan had five points on two goals and three assists. Haley Warden and Elena Romesburg tallied hat tricks.

FINAL I @haleywarden25 breaks JMU's career draw controls record to help JMU move to 5-0 for the first time in 7 years!

Leaders:
Gaudian - 5g, 4dc
Warden - 3g, 1a, 5dc
Romesburg - 3g, 4dc
Kerrigan - 2g, 3a#GoDukes #DDP pic.twitter.com/F1TfRP5hY8

— JMU Lacrosse (@JMULacrosse) March 3, 2018

Maryland Cruises Past Hofstra

After losing to North Carolina 16-15 in overtime one week ago in Chapel Hill, N.C., No. 4 Maryland has since rebounded with a 21-12 win over UMBC on Wednesday and a 17-10 rout of Hofstra this afternoon.

With a dominant 11-4 first half, the Terps held on for the victory despite a 5-1 run for the Pride powered by Katie Whelan (three goals) and Alyssa Parrella (two goals).

Senior attacker Megan Whittle paced Maryland with seven points on five goals and two assists. Brindi Griffin and Jen Giles added hat tricks, while Meghan Siverson and Kali Hartshorn balanced the midfield with eight and seven draw controls, respectively.

“It’s nice to have a Saturday game at home,” said Terps coach Cathy Reese. “It wasn’t our greatest showing, but we need to take it, get better and grow from there. Defensively, I thought we made some corrections to where we were on Wednesday night so that was nice to see."

BLACKJACK!
Megan Whittle gets the scoring started in the second half with her 21st of the season.#Terps 12, Hofstra 4.#FearTheTurtle pic.twitter.com/Qgelqm8lee

— Maryland Women's Lax (@MarylandWLax) March 3, 2018

Other Games of Note

• No. 19 Yale now sits 4-0 on the year for the first time since 2014 thanks to senior attacker Kiwi Comizio’s game-winner in overtime, which lifted the Bulldogs past conference foe Harvard 16-15. Carlson Barrett tallied a team-best five points on four goals and one assists, while Sam Higgins got a hat trick. Emily Grander had four points.

• No. 11 Penn also moves to 4-0 on the season for the first time since 2015, netting its first conference win against Cornell, 11-4. The Quakers avenged their only Ivy League regular season loss from last season. In her first career start, Mikaela Cheeseman recorded 10 saves. Gabby Rosenweig led with six points on three goals and three assists.

• No. 20 Johns Hopkins records its first shutout since 2009, dominating Furman 19-0. Emily Kenul led the Blue Jays with four goals and one assist, Miranda Ibello tallied a hat trick plus one assist, and Maggie Schneidereith and Shannon Fitzergald had two goals and one assist apiece. Nicole DeMase also added a hat trick.

• Trailing by two at halftime, UMass inched past UConn in its 12-11 win. Knotted at 11 with 7:58 to play, the Minutewomen didn’t secure the victory until Holly Turner scored the game-winning goal with just seven seconds left on the clock. Kaitlyn Cerasi had a team-high five points for UMass, while Turner and Abby Walker each had a hat trick.

• The Oregon-Towson game was postponed due to flight cancellations to Baltimore. The two teams are looking to reschedule during the final week of March when the Ducks come east to play ECU on April 1.  

KIWI COMIZIO WITH THE GAME-WINNER IN OT!

Final from Reese:
Yale 16
Harvard 15

We are 4-0!

#IvyLax #IvyTop5@NCAALAX @IvyLeagueNet pic.twitter.com/P85lf6DEcJ

— Yale Womens Lacrosse (@YaleWLacrosse) March 3, 2018

– Megan Schneider

Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Top 20 Scoreboard

No. 1 Stony Brook 15, No. 13 Northwestern 10
No. 2 James Madison 19, Temple 7
No. 7 Florida 17, No. 3 North Carolina 10
No. 4 Maryland 17, Hofstra 10
No. 10 Navy 22, Winthrop 11
No. 11 Penn 11, Cornell 4
No. 12 Princeton 12, Brown 10
No. 19 Yale 16, Harvard 15 (OT)
No. 20 Johns Hopkins 19, Furman 0
Loyola 15, No. 18 Penn State 15

Other Scores

Arizona State 23, Presbyterian 5
Army 17, Siena 16
Bryant 17, Hartford 2
Colgate 12, UMass-Lowell 9
Dartmouth 20, Columbia 10
Detroit Mercy 16, Butler 6
Fairfield 15, New Hampshire 9
Georgetown 12, Delaware 8
George Washington 9, Robert Morris 7
Longwood 11, Mount St. Mary’s 10
Manhattan 10, Vermony 7
Marquette 23, Niagara 15
Quinnipiac 11, Sacred Heart 8
Radford 15, LIU Brooklyn 13
Richmond 6, Liberty 4
Rutgers 15, Drexel 7
UMBC 14, American 12
Wagner 15, Lehigh 11

SUN DEVILS WIN@SunDevilWLax scores a program record 23 goals in their first ever home game! pic.twitter.com/avffe2tG5U

— Arizona State Sun Devils (@TheSunDevils) March 4, 2018

Division III

Tufts Upsets Hamilton

The No. 10 Jumbos opened their season with a bang, upsetting No. 6 Hamilton in a dominant 17-4 showing.

Dakota Adamec led Tufts with eight goals, one assist and six draw controls. Her goal total tied the program record for goals in a single game.

Margaret Chase, Catherine Lawliss and Caroline Nowak added two goals apiece for the Jumbos.

Goalie Audrey Evers recorded nine saves and seven ground balls.