All six American Athletic Conference teams were in action Sunday, and four came away with wins.
SUNDAY, MARCH 20
Florida 10, Drexel 9
Vanderbilt 12, Hofstra 9
Temple 11, UC Davis 6
Old Dominion 22, Howard 2
Liberty 16, Cincinnati 12
Johns Hopkins 14, East Carolina 7
NO. 13 FLORIDA 10, DREXEL 9
PHILADELPHIA – The No. 13 Florida lacrosse team (4-4) held off Drexel’s (4-4) late surge on Sunday afternoon, defeating the Dragons 10-9 in the final minute of play on Sunday afternoon at Vidas Field.
After holding an 8-1 lead coming out of the half, Drexel battled all the way back to take the 9-8 advantage over the Gators with 5:21 left in the game. Florida did not bow out though, scoring two goals in the final minute to secure the victory.
“We came out with a lot of energy in the first half and saw some great play on both the offensive and defensive sides of the field,” said Florida head coach Amanda O’Leary. “After the half, we let things get away from us on both sides, but I am proud of this team for showing the resilience to come back in the final minute of play and get a road victory.”
Florida’s offensive attack was led by a career-performance from Maggi Hall. The sophomore attacker registered six goals in the game, including the game-tying goal with 1:00 left to play. Danielle Pavinelli netted two goals of her own in the victory, with her second serving as the game-winner with just 18 seconds left.
Paisley Eagan and Emily Heller round out the scorers for Florida, each notching one goal in the game.
Emma LoPinto dished out a team-high three assists on the afternoon, followed by two helpers from Ashley Gonzalez. Maggi Hall and Shelton Sawers each added one assist of their own in the win.
Heller posted three draw controls on the afternoon to lead the way for the Gators, while Sawers and Liz Harrison collected two apiece.
Florida’s defense held Drexel to a .346 shooting percentage in the game on 9-of-26 shooting. UF caused nine turnovers in the victory, led by two apiece from Leigh Lingo and Emma Wightman. Four Gators each registered one: Hall, Catherine Moriarty, Sawers and Sarah Reznick, as well as one team CT.
Moriarty recorded a career-high four groundballs on the afternoon to lead the team, followed by two apiece from Lingo, Catherine Flaherty, Maeson Tydings and Eagan.
During her 60 minutes between the pipes, Reznick recorded eight saves for a .471 save percentage.
VANDERBILT 12, HOFSTRA 9
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. – Vanderbilt rallied from a three-goal deficit to secure a 12-9 road victory at Hofstra on Sunday.
Callie Sundin led the offense with a hat trick and Gabby Fornia and Karlie Bucci each totaled four points on two goals and two assists.
The Pride raced to an early 3-0 lead in the first quarter. Sundin scored her first goal to put Vandy on the board and Paige Finneran cut it to 3-2 heading into the second period.
Hofstra went back up by a pair, but Vandy once again fought back and pulled even at 4-4 with a Bri Gross goal just before halftime.
The second half was all Vanderbilt. The Dores outscored Hofstra 6-3 in the third quarter beginning with Sundin’s second goal of the game to give Vandy its first lead at 5-4. Sundin completed her hat trick with 9:45 left in the third quarter, putting Vanderbilt in front 7-5.
Hofstra cut Vanderbilt’s lead to two in the fourth quarter, but Fornia scored her second goal of the game with 7:49 remaining to put the contest out of reach.
Vanderbilt moves to 5-3 on the season and visits Towson at 11 a.m. CT on Wednesday.
TEMPLE 11, UC DAVIS 6
PHILADELPHIA – The Temple lacrosse team (6-3) claimed victory over the UC Davis Aggies (3-4) 11-6 Sunday afternoon. Riley McGowan, Maddie Barber, and Margot Hotham all set career highs.
"I thought this was a really great game for us today," said Temple head coach Bonnie Rosen. "It's been a good week of practice and I think coming off last week's losses this was a big test on how we could perform and handle playing a game confidence wise. UC Davis has been playing really good lacrosse, so we knew this would be a challenge for us. I'm really proud of us staying in the game after a slow start and finding a way for us to build a lead."
McGowan's five goals paced all scorers by a wide margin. The junior tied her career high. Midfielder Belle Mastropietro scored twice, picked a up a ground ball and controlled four draws.
Four Temple players scored one goal.
Barber had a career-high eight draw controls and had five ground balls.
Margot Hotham had the best game of her career. The senior shattered her career-high with six ground balls. Prior to today, she had five on the season.
OLD DOMINION 22, HOWARD 2
NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion University lacrosse scored the first 19 goals in the game to cruise to a 22-2 win over Howard on Sunday afternoon at the L.R. Hill Sports Complex.
Old Dominion (5-6) scored nine goals in the first quarter as Corrinne Stratton got the scoring started. Lilly Siskind made it 2-0 and Maddie Mullenbach scored two-straight to make it 4-0 Monarchs.
Siskind scored two more to make it 6-0 and Mullenbach added another to put ODU on top 7-0 late in the first quarter. Sydney Taylor scored a minute after Mullenbach and Tess Meurling made it 9-0 with six seconds left in the quarter.
The Monarchs scored seven times in the second quarter to make the halftime lead 16-0.
Taylor notched the 10th goal two minutes into the quarter, while Ali Mills made it 11-0. Molly May added a tally and Mills another to make it 13-0.
Amber Stieve notched her second goal of the season to make it 14-0. Emily Raech registered her second goal of the season as well and Jessica Pisano scored to make it 16-0.
Brooke Ferringer tallied her first goal of the game to start the scoring in the third quarter to make the score 17-0. Meurling notched her second of the day to push the score to 18-0 and Olivia Tanneberger made it 19-0.
Kayla Rose and Quai Skeete-Ridley scored back-to-back goals for Howard, but the Monarchs ended the day with three-consecutive goals from Ferringer, May and Moira Olexa.
Siskind, and Mullenbach had hat tricks, while Meurling, Taylor, Raech, Ferringer and Mills each had two goals. Tanneberger had a goal and three assists and Claire Porter tallied three assists.
Jenna Peccia earned the win making one save, while Brianna Blatter made three saves and Sabrina Leatherwood recorded one save.
LIBERTY 16, CINCINNATI 12
CINCINNATI – The Cincinnati women's lacrosse team fell to Liberty, 16-12, on Sunday at Nippert Stadium.
The match was tied 11-11 heading into the fourth quarter, but the Flames outscored the Bearcats 5-1 in the final frame of a back-and-forth match.
"I think we came out really hard and with a game plan in mind," said Cincinnati head coach Gina Thomas. "I was a little disappointed in the turnovers we had since it was something we focused on the last week. Liberty is a good team that plays hard. I think we played a solid 30-35 minutes until that second half, and we need to sustain that level of intensity."
Cincinnati was led by sophomore Ava Goeller, who scored four goals and recorded her fifth straight hat trick.
Sophomore Elizabeth Murphy and junior Grace Wehland added two goals apiece, while junior Morgan Bates tallied her first career assist. The Bearcats held a 29-25 edge in shots, but Flames' senior goalie Jennifer Soriero notched 11 saves.
The Bearcats jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the first quarter thanks to three early goals from Goeller. Senior Anna Platou fired a goal with seven seconds left in the first frame to give UC a three-goal advantage.
Liberty came out firing in the second quarter, however as the Flames scored four straight goals to take the lead.
Goeller tied the match up with a free position goal to make it 6-6 with 2:35 left in the first half. Senior Kylie Nause scored a goal with 24 seconds left in the second quarter after to give Cincinnati the lead (7-6) back heading into the intermission. Liberty scored two quick goals to open up the second half, but UC answered with a 3-0 run of its own.
After a timely save by freshman goalie Sophie O'Brien, senior Alyssa Adams faked out a defender before firing a dart into the net to put UC in front 11-8 with just over three minutes remaining in the third quarter.
Liberty quickly tied the match with three goals to end the third period and the Bearcats and Flames were tied 11-11 heading into the fourth quarter. Cincinnati took a 12-11 lead at the start of the fourth quarter on Wehland's second goal, but Liberty answered right back 10 seconds later and scored four more times while Soriero tallied three more saves to stifle the UC offense.
JOHNS HOPKINS 14, EAST CAROLINA 7
BALTIMORE, Md. -- Nicole LeGar had a hat trick, but it wasn't enough to allow East Carolina to keep pace with Johns Hopkins Sunday as the Blue Jays pulled away for a 14-7 victory at Homewood Field.
East Carolina trailed 5-3 at halftime, but Johns Hopkins pulled away in the third quarter with six goals, including three in a row from Madison McPherson, which gave the Blue Jyas an 8-3 cushion. Shelby Harrison capped Johns Hopkins' 5-0 run that spanned the second and third quarters to give the hosts a 9-3 advantage with 9:35 left in the third.
The Pirates closed to within four with goals by Leah Bestany and Erin Gulden late in the third quarter, but Johns Hopkins closed with two goals to close the period before scoring the first two of the fourth.
LeGar had three goals to lead the Pirates, while Frances Kimel had two. Brynn Knight made nine saves and allowe 10 goals, while Sophie Bandorick made one stop with four goals allowed.