James Madison and Florida both mounted incredible fourth-quarter comebacks in their respective NCAA tournament matchups Sunday.
The Dukes closed their win against Maryland by scoring the last five goals of the game in a 15-14 win, sending James Madison to a quarterfinal-round matchup against Syracuse.
The Gators likewise battled back from a fourth-quarter deficit against Notre Dame, but the Irish responsded with the game-winning goal with 10 seconds left to hand Florida a 16-15 loss.
(7) JAMES MADISON 15, MARYLAND 14
HARRISONBURG, Va. – Down 14-10 with 9:18 to play, No. 7 James Madison lacrosse staged a furious comeback to shock No. 11 Maryland 15-14 and advance to its first NCAA Division I Women’s Lacrosse Championship quarterfinals in five years at Sentara Park on Sunday.
JMU scored five goals from the 6:21 to the 0:54 marks, finishing off the game with a 5-0 scoring run in just 5:27. Redshirt freshman Caitlin McElwee capped the run with just her sixth goal of the season.
The comeback victory improved JMU to 19-2 overall while Maryland finished its season at 15-7.
Redshirt junior Isabella Peterson scored seven goals on eight shots (.875) including the run-starting and tying goals in the fourth quarter, adding two assists for nine points. Sunday was her third game this season with at least seven goals. Redshirt senior Lizzy Fox and redshirt freshman Maddie Epke each scored twice with Epke adding an assist.
Redshirt senior Kat Buchanan made 11 saves on a .440 save percentage, with six key saves in the second half and three in the fourth quarter. JMU also got two ground balls and a caused turnover each from redshirt seniors Mairead Durkin and Rachel Matey and junior Nicholle Marshall.
For Maryland, senior Hannah Leubecker scored four goals while freshman Kori Edmondson netted a hat trick. Senior Shaylan Ahearn came up with a game-high eight draw controls while adding a pair of goals and an assist.
JMU took a 2-0 lead with goals from Lizzy Fox and Peterson, before Maryland scored three straight to grab a 3-2 lead at the 1:44 mark. Peterson then found Katelyn Morgan to tie the game with 14 seconds left.
There were four ties in the quarter and each team led on multiple occasions, but never by more than a goal. Peterson put up two more goals for a hat trick. Maryland controlled the possession, winning draw controls 7-3.
With the score at 9-8, Maryland scored three straight goals in 5:16 to take a 12-8 lead, its biggest of the game, while holding JMU scoreless for the last 12:25. JMU was out-shot 10-3, but Buchanan kept the Dukes within striking distance with three saves.
Two goals by Peterson allowed JMU to climb within 12-10 with 11:16 left to play, but Maryland responded with two of their own in 35 seconds to restore the four-goal lead at the 9:18 mark. From there, JMU first scored twice in 36 seconds to cut the deficit back to two with 5:45 left, before scoring three goals in the game’s final three minutes to complete the comeback. JMU got two goals from Peterson and one each from Epke, Taylor Marchetti and the winner from McElwee in the run. JMU hit both of its free-position shots and did not commit a turnover in the quarter.
James Madison has advanced to the NCAA quarterfinal round for the ninth time in its history and has won two games to reach the quarterfinals for the first time.
The Dukes finished with a 10-0 home record, its third time ever with an undefeated home slate, going 8-0 in 1981 and 12-0 in 2018.
Peterson now has 273 career points, breaking Gail Decker’s previous record of 267.
JMU will travel to Syracuse, N.Y. to take on No. 2 seed Syracuse in the quarterfinal round on Thursday, May 18, at a time to be announced later. The quarterfinal round will air nationally on ESPNU.
NOTRE DAME 16, (6) FLORIDA 15
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Notre Dame midfielder Kasey Choma scored all four of her goals in the second half, including the game-winner with just 10.1 seconds left that handed sixth-seeded and sixth-ranked Florida a crushing 16-15 defeat in Sunday's NCAA Tournament round of 16 game at Dizney Stadium.
Choma's decisive score came after the Gators (17-4) playing from behind for nearly the final 36 minutes, stunned the No. 8-seed Irish with four goals from four different players in less than five minutes — after scoring 11 time during the game's first 54 — to pull even at 15-all on Danielle Pavinelli's unassisted tally with 1:22 to play.
After winning the ensuing draw, UF turned the ball over with 54 seconds left and paid for it two-fold when midfielder Paisley Eagan was assessed a green card on the play. ND capitalized on the woman-up advantage when Choma cut through the 8-meter area, took a pass from Jane McAvoy and fired past Florida goalkeeper Sarah Reznick with those mere seconds to play.
Florida lost the draw and thus had no chance for any kind of miracle finish, falling shy of reaching the NCAA quarterfinals for the first time since 2019.
“It was a great game," said head coach Amanda O'Leary. "Obviously Notre Dame came out ready to play. I thought we had some good quarters, and struggled in some other quarters. To play a team like that, who is so good, you need to play a full 60 minute game. I think we were resilient, we came back from a four-goal deficit to tie it up. I couldn’t be prouder of this group.”
UF was led by four goals and two assists from Maggi Hall, with her final score the 100th of her career. Emma LoPinto also had four goals and an assist, while both Pavinelli, who had five goals in Friday's opening-round defeat of Jacksonville, and Emily Heller scored twice each. Reznick, who set a single-game program record with 17 saves Friday, faced a barrage of 38 shots by the Irish and totaled 14 saves (.448).
Notre Dame All-America attacker Jackie Wolak finished with a game-high five goals, plus a pair of assists. Madison Ahern added three goals and an assist. Keeper Lilly Callahan stopped only four of UF's 19 shots (.211), but it proved just enough. Barely.
In what was the first-ever meeting between the two programs, Notre Dame broke open a 5-all game with three consecutive goals that represented the final tallies of the second period, the last a free-position score from Ahern on a woman-up opportunity after a yellow card was issued to Pavinelli.
Florida went to the locker room down 8-5 and five times over the next 16 minutes got within two scores, including at 13-11 when Madison Waters made a terrific steal at the ND point of attack and turned the turnover into a wide-open length-of-the-field, give-and-go break. Waters was rewarded at the end of the charge with an assist from LoPinto and fired a goal past Callahan with 13:01 to play.
The Irish, however, scored three minutes later on when Choma's third goal of the half that pushed the margin back to three with 10 minutes remaining. Her fourth of the half was an unassisted mark that came with 6:55 to go and made it 15-11.
But then came Hall unassisted just 53 seconds later to make in a three-goal margin. At 2:29 Tayler Warehime scored on a pass from Emily Heller, and then Pavinelli, 50 seconds later, went unassisted to tie the game for the first time since the 13:31 mark to send the UF faithful into a tizzy and set up a cruel finish to an otherwise rewarding season.
“That group of seniors has had so much success, and it’s all because of their team chemistry and their hard work," said O'Leary. "They’re just a great group of young women on and off the field, and that’s what makes this so special, and is what makes the University of Florida’s lacrosse so special. It’s the people in the locker room. The wins and losses, they probably aren’t going to remember that. They’re going to remember the life-long relationships that they have. I couldn’t be more proud of this senior class. They’ve been through Covid and they’ve been through a lot of adversity, but have persevered, and I love each and every one of them.”