Wednesday, March 13-Saturday, March 16
Highlights
UConn 10, Albany 9
Back in Storrs for the first of two-straight home games, UConn women's lacrosse captured its first win of the 2019 season as they held off a late rally to earn a 10-9 victory over UAlbany Wednesday afternoon at Sherman Family Complex. The Huskies move to 1-5 on the year, while UAlbany drops to 3-3.
Sophomore midfielder Sydney Watson led the charge for UConn with a hat trick while Caitlin Leary and Olivia Miles each tallied two goals apiece. Overall, six different UConn players found the back of the net, as Brooke Jensen, Anna Costello and Sam McKenna contributed scores of their own.
UConn and Albany swapped goals to start a competitive but low scoring first half. Watson and Leary put the Huskies up 2-nil less than five minutes into the contest, but the Great Danes answered with two of their own to even the score. The Huskies scored four of the next five goals - Jensen (1), Costello (1), McKenna (1) and Watson (1) - to take a 6-3 advantage into the break.
The Huskies opened the second half with back-to-back strikes from Olivia Miles. Shortly afterwards, Leary earned her second tally of the day on a free position shot to open up a six-goal lead for the home team. UAlbany wouldn't go away quietly, as the Great Danes went on a 3-0 run to cut the UConn lead down to two, 9-7.
UConn remained focused and undeterred as they patiently worked the ball around their zone. Sydney Watson earned a free position attempt following a UAlbany foul, and the sophomore buried the shot to complete her hat trick and put the Huskies up 10-7 in the process.
Vanderbilt 19, New Hampshire 7
Vanderbilt used its high-powered offense to defeat New Hampshire, 19-7, Wednesday afternoon at the Vanderbilt Lacrosse Complex.
The Commodores (6-1) utilized multiple runs to take and extend their lead en route to victory. After falling behind 1-0, the Dores went on a 6-0 run to extend their lead. A later 5-0 run helped Vandy take a commanding 11-3 lead.
Vanderbilt remained undefeated at home this season with a perfect 3-0 mark. Its 6-1 start to the season stands as its best start through seven games in program history.
Efficiency was key for the Commodores as they scored 19 goals on just 26 shots.
Emily Mathewson powered the offense with her third hat trick of the season on just three shots and a season-high four assists. She also finished the game with a season-high seven points and two draw controls.
Several other Commodores poured in multi-goal performances as Hadley Brown, Gwyn Devin and Sophie Furlong all added two goals to help spark the Commodore attack. Brown also posted a career-high three assists after having been named to the American Athletic Conference Honor Roll last week.
Lily Argyle started in goal for her fifth win of season. She posted her second-best save output of the season with nine. Madison Foglio also entered the game and had four saves while Grace Bell closed the game out with two saves of her own.
Syracuse 14, Florida 13
The No. 16 Florida Gators gave No. 4 Syracuse an incredibly tight battle on Wednesday night, but ultimately fell to the Orange 14-13 in the final eight seconds of the game at Donald R. Dizney Stadium.
Lindsey Ronbeck led the offense attack for the Gators, recording five goals against the Orange. Grace Haus followed with five points of her own, pitching in two goals and three assists on the night.
As a squad, Florida caused nine turnovers, led by two from Caroline Benitez, Grace Haus and Shannon Kavanagh.
Syracuse scored the final goal of the first period, taking the 9-6 lead into the locker room, but back-to-back goals out of the half by Haus and Ronbeck had Florida with one at 9-8.
Every time the Orange scored, the Gators answered right back, tying the game at 10-10 after Kavanagh converted on her free-position attempt.
The teams continued to trade goals over the next 10 minutes of the game, with Ronbeck hitting the game-tying goal on a pass from Haus with 44 seconds remaining - causing Dizney Stadium to erupt. Syracuse scored on a free-position attempt in the final eight seconds of the game to secure the victory.
Louisville 18, Cincinnati 12
The University of Cincinnati lacrosse team, trailing by as many as 10 goals twice in the second half, put together a strong comeback in the later part of the game, but it was not enough as the Bearcats fell on the road at Louisville Thursday morning, 18-12. Taylor Gysin scored five goals for the Bearcats (3-5) to help spark the second half rally, but the Cardinals (4-6) were able to hang one for the win.
Gysin's five goals are the second-highest of her career behind only the six she scored against Marquette earlier this year and marks the third hat trick she has tallied in 2019.
Kylie Nause, after scoring two goals in her first five games, recorded her third hat trick in as many games as she netted three more.
Thursday's game was a collection of streaks as the Cardinals jumped out to a 5-0 lead with Tessa Chad scoring twice and three others chipping in a goal. The Bearcats got on the board at the 22:01 mark as Gysin scored her first of the game on an assist from Monica Borzillo before she came right back and scored again less than one minute later to make it 5-2. Nause grabbed her first of the game just over one minute later before Gysin completed her hat trick on a pass from Mlkvy to make it 5-4 UL at the 19:37 mark. The Cardinals responded, however, and ripped off four goals of their own to close out the first half and make the scored 9-4 at the break.
UC got the scoring started in the second half as Amanda Donovan took a pass from Jayde Sains and buried the shot to bring the Bearcats to within four once again (9-5), but UL responded with another run of goals, this time scoring six in a row to bring the score to 15-5 with 16:23 remaining. Alyssa Adams scored her lone goal of the day one minute later before UL brought the advantage back to 10 goals again with a goal at 14:03. Despite the deficit, the Bearcats continued to battle and ran off five goals in a row with Nause scoring twice while single goals were recorded by Mlkvy, Gysin and Napoletano to bring the score to 16-11 with 7:00 remaining. UC tried to find more goals, but were unable to get the total they needed as UL scored twice with Gysin bagging her fifth between those two scores to bring about the final score of 18-12.
Old Dominion 15, ECU 8
Despite a career-high four goals from Nicole LeGar, the ECU women's lacrosse team lost to Old Dominion 15-8 on Friday afternoon at L.R. Hill Sports Complex.
The difference in the first half was Old Dominion's ability to get free position shots. Both teams took 16 shots in the opening 30 minutes, but the Monarchs took seven free position shots while ECU had just two. Both of Old Dominion's first two goals came off free position shots. LeGar scored on an unassisted effort to make it 2-1, but the Monarchs rattled off a three-goal run to take a 5-1 lead.
Unfortunately, Old Dominion got the last goal of the half, scoring on a free position shot with 1:45 left. That gave Old Dominion a 6-3 lead at the break. Christina White made sure the lead was not bigger by making five stops in the cage for ECU.
ECU got one more flicker of life when LeGar took the reins of the ECU offense. First, sophomore was able to score off a pass from Hannah Rzempoluch. After Hillary Hardig controlled the ensuing draw, Bowman's pass led to another goal by LeGar with 7:58 left and the lead suddenly just five.
The Pirates could not get closer though, and two final Old Dominion goals closed out the game.
Columbia 13, UConn 7
Playing the final game of its brief two-game homestand, UConn women's lacrosse suffered a 13-7 setback against the Columbia Lions Saturday afternoon at Sherman Family Complex. UConn drops to 1-6 while Columbia's record moves to 3-5.
Junior Olivia Miles paced the UConn offense with a hat trick, with Sydney Watson, Anna Costello, Lia LaPrise and Dani Dunn each contributing one goal apiece for the Huskies.
The first half featured back-and-forth action as both squads traded goals and combined for five ties and three lead changes in the opening 30 minutes. Watson got the Huskies on the board first less than three minutes into the game. Columbia countered with two straight to take a 2-1 lead before LaPrise slotted one home to tie the game at two. The Huskies and Lions battled back and forth over the next 20 minutes, and every time Columbia took a one-goal lead, UConn always had an answer. Olivia Miles recorded three straight goals to keep the contest tied, before Dani Dunn found the back of the cage to send UConn into the locker room with a 6-5 halftime lead.
Columbia knotted the score at 6-6 at 27:13 of the second half, then scored seven unanswered goals to grab a 13-6 lead and complete control of the second half. Anna Costello ended the Huskies scoring drought with a goal with 38 second remaining to produce the 13-7 end result.
James Madison 16, Temple 10
Temple lacrosse outscored seventh-ranked James Madison (7-1) in the second half, but the Owls (3-6) were too far back to make enough of a dent against the defending national champion Dukes in a 16-10 road loss.
Temple scored on half of its shots on goal, getting 10 of 20 to go, and utilized strong shot placement with only five of its 25 totals shots not going on goal. Draw controls hurt the Owls as they corralled just 10 compared to JMU's 18. The Dukes jumped out to a 4-0 lead before the Owls scored three straight, but it was all JMU the rest of the half as the Dukes went on to take a 10-3 lead into the break.
Seven different players scored for the Owls, with three of those scoring two goals each. Sophomore Gabby Acker was one of those two-goal scorers, with the two being the first goals of her career.
Sophomore Bridget Whitaker and junior Meghan Hoffman also scored two goals apiece.
Junior Maryn Lowell made six saves in 49 minutes of action, with sophomore Olivia Martin coming in to make four saves in 11 minutes.
North Carolina 11, Florida 9
The No.16 Florida Gators rallied late, but it was not enough to over the third-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels, dropping the 11-9 decision on Saturday afternoon at Donald R. Dizney Stadium.
Shannon Kavanagh led the way with a hat trick - her third of the season. Lindsey Ronbeck, Grace Haus and Sydney Pirreca each added two goals apiece on the day.
Sabrina Cristodero had the tough task of marking UNC's leading scorer, Jamie Ortega, and she held her to 1-of-7 shooting on the day. Cara Trombetta was on Katie Hoeg, holding the Tar Heels' second-best scorer to 1-of-3 during the game. Trombetta also recorded two caused turnovers in the game.
Cristodero led the way in the draw circle, coming up with six wins on the day.
Haley Hicklen notched 11 saves on the day, registering a .500 saves percentage. The senior goalie has now recorded double-digit saves in four games.
North Carolina came into the second half firing, taking an 11-4 lead with 25 minutes remaining in the game. The Gators kept fighting, going on a 5-0 run to get the game to within two at 11-9.
Sydney Pirreca led that spurt with an unassisted goal, then Shannon Kavanagh followed with back-to-back goals to put Florida within four at 11-7.
Grace Haus then added her name to the scoring column, registering her own set of back-to-back goals to cut the Gator deficit to two at 11-9 with 4:38 remaining, but North Carolina held the Gators scoreless for the remainder of the game to secure the victory.
Vanderbilt 17, Winthrop 3
Vanderbilt stayed perfect at home this season and took down Winthrop, 17-3, Saturday afternoon at the Vanderbilt Lacrosse Complex.
The Commodores (7-1) jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as the three goals let up was the lowest goal total the Commodores have allowed all season.
It was a career day for sophomore attacker, Gabby Fornia, as she poured in a career-high six assists, one shy of the Vanderbilt single-game record. She also added one goal on just one shot for a career-high seven points.
The Commodores used a big push in the first half to put the game out of reach. With a 2-1 lead and 26 minutes remaining in the first half, the Commodores went on a scoring spree for a 10-0 run.
For the second straight game, five different Commodores provided multi-goal performances. Melanie Becker, Julie Blaze, Gwyn Devin, Emily Mathewson and Elizabeth Scarrone all added two goals to spearhead Vanderbilt's offense.
Once again, the Commodores distributed the ball well as they assisted on 12 of their 17 goals, besting their No. 4-ranked national average of 8.71 assists per game.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
| TUESDAY |
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UConn |
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Coastal Carolina |
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2 p.m. |
Conway, S.C. |
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Princeton |
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Florida |
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7 p.m. |
Gainesville, Fla. |
Live Stats Live Video |
| WEDNESDAY |
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Vanderbilt |
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Notre Dame |
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5:30 p.m. |
South Bend, Ind. |
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| FRIDAY |
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San Diego State |
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Cincinnati |
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5 p.m. |
Cincinnati, Ohio |
Live Stats |