No. 3 James Madison improved to 3-0 to start the year as the Dukes held off upset-minded UConn Saturday at the USA Lacrosse headquarters in Sparks, Maryland. 

Vanderbilt provided The American's other highlight from Saturday as the Commodores overwhelmed Central Michigan 19-4 in Nashville.

No. 12 Florida saw No. 6 North Carolina pull away in the fourth quarter as the Gators faced their second straight top-10 opponent to start the year. East Carolina and Old Dominion also fell in road games as the Pirates came up short against No. 19 Navy and the Monarchs dropped a close one at William & Mary.


JAMES MADISON 15, UCONN 14
SPARKS, Md. – No. 3 James Madison lacrosse bested No. 24 UConn in a down-to-the-wire 15-14 victory on Saturday afternoon in Sparks, Md. 

The Dukes (3-0) recorded their third consecutive game with three players registering hat tricks.
 
Sophomore Maddie Epke and redshirt-junior Maggie Clark led the charge for the James Madison offense. Epke scored four goals and tallied one assist while Clark scored a goal and recorded three assists. Seniors Isabella Peterson and Taylor Marchetti both recorded hat tricks; Peterson's third of the season and Marchetti's second. 
 
Peterson secured six of the Dukes' draw controls while Epke secured five and Peterson snagged one. Epke also notched two free-position goals while Peterson scored one.
 
Sophomore Caitlin Boden recorded a career-high 15 saves while facing 42 shots and notching a .517 save percentage.
 
The UConn offense was led by senior Susan Lafountain with four goals and an assist. Redshirt-sophomore Rayea Davis and graduate student Jenna Giardina both recorded hat tricks and one assist. Senior Abby Charron and graduate student Kate Shaffer each scored twice and tallied an assist.
 
The Huskies dominated the draw control 20-12, with five each from graduate students Rylee Brown and Madelyn George and three each from sophomore Barlow Clark-Schoeb and junior Riley Daly.


VANDERBILT 19, CENTRAL MICHIGAN 4
NASHVILLE — Brooke Baker and Kemper Robinson combined for 10 goals to lift Vanderbilt over Central Michigan in a 19-4 season-opening victory at the Vanderbilt Lacrosse Complex on Saturday.

The Chippewas (0-3) struck first with a goal from Celia Dow in the opening two minutes of the game, but the Commodores (1-0) responded with three straight goals from Robinson and Baker.

Robinson registered a career-high five goals on five shots in the win and added two ground balls, two caused turnovers and one draw control. Baker also had a career-best five goals on six shots and one ground ball.

Vanderbilt had goals from eight different individuals including freshman Anna Taraboletti, senior Ella Smith, and junior Molly Finlay who all found the back of the cage twice. Molly Krestinski, Logan Risenhoover and Emma Davis each added a goal for the Dores.

Vanderbilt forced 17 Central Michigan turnovers and held the Chippewas to just 16 shots, six of which were saved by Paige Gunning.


NORTH CAROLINA 19, FLORIDA 10
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The 12th ranked Florida lacrosse team fell to the sixth ranked North Carolina Tar Heels by a score of 19-10 on Saturday afternoon. Florida falls to 0-2 as North Carolina improves to 2-1.

The Gators were led by Emily Heller, who scored three goals in the match. Maggi Hall and Danielle Pavinelli each had two, with Madison Waters, Sarah Falk, and Paisley Eagan scoring one each. Theresa Bragg recorded the lone assist for the team on the day, with Elyse Finelle recording 11 saves in net. Liz Harrison had a team high nine draw controls, passing Brittany Dashiell for third in program history. Kiley Mottice, Alyssa Long, Caitlyn Wurzburger and Eva Ingrilli all recorded hat-tricks for North Carolina.

Florida played a strong first half. After being down 3-1, the Gators scored four unanswered goals (including a down a player goal) to go up 5-3. They led by as many as three forcing sixer Tar Heel turnovers in the half. The difference was the second half, where Florida got outscored 11-2 and out shot 21-7.


NAVY 16, EAST CAROLINA 6
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The East Carolina lacrosse team fell to No. 19 Navy, 16-6, on Saturday afternoon. The Midshipmen used a six-goal first quarter to jump out to a five-goal lead they would never relinquish.
 
The adage in lacrosse that teams cannot win games without first possessing the ball was as true as ever for the Pirates (2-1) in the contest. The team turned the ball over 19 times to Navy's (2-0) 17 giveaways – of those turnovers for ECU, only 7 were assigned as caused turnovers for the Midshipmen. Navy was also dominant on the draw, holding a 18-7 margin over ECU, presenting the hosts with opportunities aplenty to score and extend their lead.
 
Still, the Pirates did not go down without a fight. Brynn Knight made nine saves playing the final three quarters of the game. Kayla Wilkes and Leah Bestany scored a pair of goals each, and the Pirates were credited with 13 caused turnovers as a team. After trailing by seven goals at half, ECU held Navy to just two goals in the third quarter and looked to keep the period even before a late tally was waved off the board for a crease violation.
 
The Pirates continued battling into the fourth quarter where they mustered two more goals, but at the end of the day, a gifted Navy side presented the better performance on Saturday and earned themselves their second victory of the season.
 
The Midshipmen were led by hat tricks by Emily Messinese (4), Tori DiCarlo (3) and Kat McAteer (3) and a remarkable 11 draw controls by Alyssa Daley. Felicia Giglio got the decision in goal for Navy, making saves on six of the Pirates' 12 shots on frame.


WILLIAM & MARY 12, OLD DOMINION 8
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The Old Dominion Lacrosse team fell to William & Mary, 12-8 at Martin Family Stadium at Albert-Daly Field. Sydney Taylor scored three times for the Monarchs.

ODU (0-3) opened the scoring with 11 minutes remaining in the first quarter courtesy of Taylor, but the Tribe would respond with two goals of their own. Taylor tied the game with a minute remaining in the make it 2-2 at the end of the first period. 

William & Mary regained the lead to start the second as ODU quickly answered with an Olivia Tanneberger goal. The tie would be broken by the Tribe with a goal before Emma Rowland leveled the game and Emma Arnold secured the lead for the Monarchs with five minutes to play in the half. ODU's lead lasted a minute before W&M tied and retook the lead but Arnold scored her second goal of the day with two minutes remaining to tie the game at six at intermission. 

William & Mary jumped out to an 8-6 lead in the third period of play before Taylor scored her third goal of the day with a minute remaining in the quarter. The Tribe bolstered its lead in the fourth with four straight goals making it 12-7 then Tanneberger scored with a 1:52 remaining. W&M held on to take the win 12-8.