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Thanks to a dominant 12-goal second half, No. 19 Syracuse defeated ACC rival Louisville 19-8 for its first conference win of the year in its regular season finale.

The Orange finish 1-6 in conference play and have a 9-8 overall record heading into the ACC tournament on Thursday, where they will meet fifth-ranked and second-seeded North Carolina in the quarterfinals. Syracuse takes the No. 7 seed, while Louisville is No. 8 with Sunday's loss.

"Louisville played a very good first half and matched our intensity," said Syracuse coach Gary Gait. "At halftime, we challenged our team to step it up, let them know the importance of this game and the players rose to the challenge. We had a very good second half – came out and put the game away."

The first six minutes saw two goals apiece for the Orange and Cardinals before Syracuse went on a three-goal run to go up 5-2 at the 19:48 mark, thanks to four assists from Molly Carter.

Louisville had a 3-1 advantage over the next 10 minutes, but Alie Jimerson assisted Cara Quimby with 2:39 left in the first to hand the Orange a two-goal lead heading into halftime. 

Jimerson again got an assist to open the second half, this time to Mary Rahal, to extend Syracuse’s lead to three.

Louisville then went on a comeback surge, scoring three straight goals from Caroline Blalock, Ally Hall and Emily Howell to knot it at eight with 25:15 to play.

Yet Howell’s goal was the last for the Cardinals.

The Orange exploded in the Carrier Dome with an 11-goal spurt in the final 21:50, sparked by Emily Hawryschuk, who had two goals in the run along with Nicole Levy.

Carter led the Orange with five points on five assists, while Jimerson and Levy had four points apiece. Levy and Sam Swart starred on offense with hat tricks and Hawryschuk had a team-high four draw controls.

Syracuse won both 50-50 battles with a 23-13 edge in ground balls and 18-11 edge on the draw. 

JMU Seniors Become Winningest Class in Program History

Behind senior Elena Romesburg’s five goals, James Madison downed CAA rival Hofstra 15-10 on Sunday, marking its best 16-game start in school history. JMU now sits 5-0 in conference play.

Romesburg’s class accounted for 11 of the Dukes’ 15 goals and became the winningest in program history with their 54th win.

James Madison got off to a hot start with two four-goal runs in the first 13 minutes to secure an 8-1 lead. Hofstra finished the first half with a 4-2 advantage, but still trailed 10-5 at the break.

Romesburg and Haley Warden kicked off the scoring with back-to-back goals to start the second half, but it was an even 5-5 battle down the stretch. In a 13-minute span, Hofstra and James Madison exchanged goals one at a time, before the Pride finished the game with two straight tallies from Alyssa Parella.

Romeburg finished with six assists on the day, adding an assist to the books, while Kristen Gaudian had five points on three assists and two goals and Morgan Hardt added two goals and one assist.

Warden added five draw controls to become the single-season program leader with 71 in 2018, while also already owning the career mark, now with 208.

Games of Note

  • VCU ends Massachusetts' 61-game Atlantic 10 winning streak with a 17-16 win over the Minutewomen in overtime. Rams junior Molly Barcikowski scored the game-winning goal to send them on their first trip the conference tournament.

  • UConn senior Grace Nolan got the game-winning goal in its 20-19 overtime victory over Vanderbilt.

  • Robert Morris senior Dana Davis reached 100 career goals in its 12-5 win over Central Connecticut.

Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Top 20 Scoreboard

No. 4 James Madison 15, Hofstra 10
No. 19 Syracuse 19, Louisville 8

Complete Scoreboard