Sunday certainly lived up to the hype.
The 1-v-2 matchup between Boston College and North Carolina was just as thrilling as we all hoped. Two other matchups between undefeated teams were less thrilling.
Here’s everything that went down Sunday.
ANOTHER INSTANT CLASSIC BETWEEN BC AND UNC
Andie Aldave scored four goals and both Olivia Dirks and Sam Geiersbach had two goals and two assists as No. 2 North Carolina outlasted No. 1 Boston College 16-15 in Chestnut Hill.
UNC (9-0, 3-0 ACC) held Boston College (8-1, 2-1 ACC) scoreless for over 20 minutes between the second and third quarters.
More coming later from Andy Backstrom.
MARYLAND ASSERTS ITSELF AGAINST RUTGERS
In another matchup between undefeated conference foes, No. 3 Maryland thumped No. 12 Rutgers 16-6 in College Park.
Hannah Leubecker had four goals and two assists, Aurora Cordingley and Jordyn Lipkin each had three goals and two assists and Libby May had a hat trick for Maryland (7-0, 1-0 Big Ten), which closed the game on a 6-0 run.
Rutgers (8-1, 0-1 Big Ten) fell into a 5-1 hole early in the second quarter and closed within two goals at 7-5 when Marin Hartshorn scored with 10:53 left in the third quarter. But Maryland scored the next three goals and nine of the next 10.
In front of 1,026 fans in College Park, Maryland had a 17-9 disadvantage on draws but made up for it with a 25-17 advantage on ground balls.
MICHIGAN SURVIVES IN DOUBLE OVERTIME
No. 11 Michigan closed a four-goal deficit in the third quarter and got the game-winning goal from Caroline Bean with 14 seconds left in the second overtime period, as the Wolverines survived with an 8-7 win over host Villanova.
Michigan (9-1) scored the first goal of the game just 1:38 into the action, but it was all Villanova for the foreseeable future. The Wildcats proceeded to hold the Wolverines scoreless until Kaley Thompson scored with 12:38 left in the third quarter.
Thompson’s goal was the first in a 3-0 run that cut the deficit to 5-4. Olivia Piccirilii gave Villanova (3-7) a 6-4 lead, then Thompson scored twice to tie the score at 6.
Libby McKenna gave Villanova its last lead at 7-6 with 10:24 to play, but it was short lived. Caitlin Muir scored 28 seconds later for the tie.
Both sides were then held scoreless until Bean’s OT winner.
HERE COMES JAMES MADISON
Don’t look now, but here come the Dukes.
James Madison entered this week under-.500 with three straight ranked opponents coming up. It’s come out of the first two matchups unscathed. The Dukes beat in-state foes No. 15 Richmond and No. 14 Virginia, the latter of which happened Sunday afternoon.
Virginia’s five-goal run to close the game put pressure on James Madison, but the Dukes ultimately won 16-14. Isabella Peterson scored six goals, Kacey Knobloch had three and Taylor Marchetti, Katelyn Morgan and Ava Frantz each scored twice.
James Madison (5-4) won despite Virginia’s 17-5 advantage on free position chances.
It was all JMU after the first quarter, but Virginia (5-6) closed that 8-2 deficit to 10-8 by halftime. JMU scored six of the next seven goals for a 16-9 lead, a margin that proved large enough to withstand Virginia’s late run.