No. 7 James Madison handed No. 8 Florida its first loss against an American Athletic Conference opponent in the brief history of the conference as the Dukes won a showdown of top-10 teams to highlight the beginning of conference play in The American Saturday.
Cincinnati, meanwhile, put forth what might have been its best effort of the season in a win against Vanderbilt, while East Carolina set a program record with its seventh consecutive win as the Pirates rallied past Old Dominion.
NO. 7 JAMES MADISON 14, NO. 8 FLORIDA 9
HARRISONBURG, Va. – No. 7 James Madison lacrosse defeated its third ranked opponent in as many weeks and won its first ever American Athletic Conference game, finishing on a 6-0 run to top No. 8 Florida 14-9 at Sentara Park Saturday afternoon.
The Dukes’ second win over a top-10 opponent this season improved them to 8-1 overall while Florida fell to 5-3 with the defeat. JMU is off to its best start through nine games since starting 8-1 in 2018.
Redshirt senior Lizzy Fox scored three goals for her first hat trick since April 25, 2021, while Isabella Peterson added three for her seventh hat trick of the season and also secured seven draw controls. Junior Katelyn Morgan and freshman Maddie Epke lit up the assist board with four helpers each.
Leading another solid defensive performance, redshirt senior Mairead Durkin caused three turnovers and added two ground balls while classmate Rachel Matey came up with four ground balls to go with two draw controls on the day. The Dukes held the Gators scoreless for the final 21:30 of the game.
For the Gators, Emma LoPinto scored four goals on seven shots while Danielle Pavinelli scored twice.
CINCINNATI 19, VANDERBILT 6
CINCINNATI, Ohio – Led by a career-best seven goals from junior midfielder Ava Goeller, the Cincinnati women's lacrosse team cruised past Vanderbilt, 19-6, on Saturday for an American Athletic Conference-opening victory at Nippert Stadium.
UC won its AAC opener for the first time since 2019. The Bearcats' 19 goals are their most ever in AAC play.
Cincinnati picked up its third win in 12 matches all-time against Vanderbilt, avenging last season's 23-7 loss.
Goeller scored seven goals, while junior attacker Lauren Ottensmeyer (four goals) and freshman attacker Camryn Callaghan (four goals) also tallied hat tricks.
"Our team just showed up to play and I am so proud of them," head coach Gina Thomas said. "Vanderbilt is a good team and I told them what happened this past weekend (16-3 loss at Michigan) was unacceptable and could never be who we are.
"When we decide to play, we can play with anyone. I can't say enough of how proud I am of this team. Ava Goeller has had some up and downs this season and she showed up today and that was a big difference. I think we out-statted them in almost every category and that is what it is going to take to beat really good teams."
UC held a 20-8 advantage on draw controls and a 34-15 lead on shots.
Junior keeper Ashley Lapp recorded four saves as Cincinnati improved to 7-3 overall and 1-0 in conference play.
Cincinnati used stifling defense to hold Vanderbilt without even a shot in the first quarter and jumped out to a 4-0 lead.
Callaghan got the Bearcats on the board less than 90 seconds into the match by whipping a goal past Commodores' keeper Paige Gunning.
Ottensmeyer and senior Grace Wehland followed with goals shortly thereafter as the Bearcats took a 3-0 lead in the first five minutes.
Goeller pushed the UC lead to 4-0 on a dart in the net with 4:42 left in the first quarter.
Thirty seconds into the second frame, Ellie Hillsabeck gave Vanderbilt its first goal – on its first shot.
UC moved back ahead 5-1 at the 11:09 mark in the second after junior midfielder Lindsey Durkota, making her first start of the season, found sophomore attacker Kylie Gioia for a goal.
Twenty seconds later, Ottensmeyer scored her second goal of the day.
Ottensmeyer and Goeller completed hat tricks within seconds of each other at the end of the second quarter.
Goeller added her fourth goal 30 seconds before the break as UC took a commanding 10-2 lead into halftime.
The Bearcats continued to pull away in the third quarter with Goeller, Callaghan and Ottensmeyer all tallying scores in the first five minutes of the second half.
Callaghan became the third Bearcat to secure a hat trick when Goeller found her with a pass and the freshman attacker spun a shot into the back of the net to make the score 15-3.
Cincinnati extended the lead to 19-4 before Vanderbilt scored twice at the end of the match.
EAST CAROLINA 7, OLD DOMINION 5
NORFOLK, Va. – The East Carolina lacrosse team defeated the Old Dominion Monarchs, 7-5, in their AAC opener on Saturday afternoon at the L.R. Hill Sports Complex. The Pirates were led by their defense which allowed a mere five goals in the low-scoring affair.
East Carolina (8-1, 1-0 AAC) got off to a very slow start, not scoring until 27:55 into the game when Regina Di Chiara finally found the back of the net. The good news was that the Pirate defense held stout. Neither team scored for the first 12:27 of the game and Old Dominion (4-7, 0-1 AAC) only managed a pair of goals in the first quarter before being shut out in the second. Erin Gulden scored with just a couple seconds remaining in the half to level the score at two through 30 minutes of play.
The Pirates found some footing in the third quarter. After giving up the first goal of the period, the team scored four in a row with a pair of goals each, alternating from Ellie Bromley and Frances Kimel.
After making three saves in the second quarter, the Pirates kept Brynn Knight out of harm's way for the most part in the second half as she was only called upon for three saves. Two of those saves came in the final quarter as the Monarchs made a push for a comeback. They managed a pair but Bromley notched her hat trick with 4:12 to play and an ODU goal with 2:09 was too little, too late as ECU hung on for the win.
The game was a defensive slugfest without many stats to go around but Bromley managed her trio of goals and Kimel her pair; Sophia LoCicero contributed three ground balls and a caused turnover – one of seven Pirates to register a caused turnover on the day. Most importantly, though, Knight was herself, making eight saves and allowing only five goals as she continues to lead the American in save percentage.
With the win, the Pirates have now won seven-straight games, the longest win streak in program history.