Notre Dame and Top Three Seeds Advance in ACC Women's Tournament

There were no major surprises in the quarterfinal round of the Atlantic Coast Conference Women’s Lacrosse Championship, but No. 5 seed Notre Dame did knock off No. 4 seed Virginia 15-13, avenging a regular season loss to the Cavaliers. The victory sets up a semifinal match against No. 1 seed Boston College on Friday at 1 p.m. Notre Dame has won five straight since losing by a single goal, 12-11, to BC on April 8. The Eagles beat Duke 15-9.

In the bottom half of the bracket, No. 2 seed Syracuse held off Virginia Tech 14-12 and No. 3 North Carolina overcame a slow start to beat first-year program Clemson 16-6. Syracuse will face the reigning ACC and NCAA champion Tar Heels on Friday in Charlotte at 3:30 p.m.

Both semifinal games will air on the ACC Network.

Here are recaps of Wednesday’s quarterfinal games:

Boston College 15, Duke 9

Top-seeded Boston College opened the tournament with a dominant first half on the way to a 15-9 victory over Duke. The Eagles have now won eight straight games to improve to 14-3 for the season. Jenn Medjid led BC with four goals and the Eagles got contributions from Belle Smith (3g, 1a) and McKenna Davis (1g, 3a).

Caroline DeBellis, Eva Greco and Maddie Jenner all had two goals for Duke, which finished the season with an 8-10 record. Jenner had a game-high seven draw controls, but BC had a slight advantage in the category at 16-13 with Ryan Smith leading the Eagles with seven draw controls. Duke put just 15 of its 25 shots on goal.

Notre Dame 15, Virginia 13

Notre Dame never trailed against Virginia and used a four-goal run in the second quarter to open up a 9-3 lead, but had to fend off a second half rally by the Cavaliers.

Virginia scored five straight goals on a run that began late in the third quarter to get within one and eventually tied the game 13-13 on back-to-back goals by Rachel Clark, the latter coming with 5:34 in regulation. Just 46 seconds later Kasey Choma gave the Irish the lead again and Kristen Shanahan added an insurance goal.

Choma and Jackie Wolak each scored four goals for Notre Dame (13-4) and Madison Ahern scored three times. Lilly Callahan made three of her eight saves in the final three minutes of the game.

Ashlyn McGovern scored four times for Virginia (11-6), Clark and McKenzie Hoeg each scored three goals and Morgan Schwab had a goal and four assists.

Syracuse 14, Virginia Tech 12

Playing for the first time since Boston College ended its perfect season, Syracuse got all it could handle before putting away Virginia Tech 14-12.

The 14 goals were tied for the second fewest in a game this season for the Orange, which came into the game ranked No. 4 in the country in scoring with an average of 16.8 goals per game, but star Meaghan Tyrrell came through when it mattered most.

Virginia Tech’s Blair Guy had a career-high five goals, her fifth coming with 6:27 left in the fourth quarter to pull the Hokies to within 12-11. Tyrrell then scored consecutive goals just 49 seconds apart to give the Orange the cushion needed to secure the victory.

Sierra Cockerille and Emma Ward both had hat tricks for Syracuse (16-1) and Tyrrell had a team-high five points (2g, 3a).

Guy’s five goals led Virginia Tech (10-9) and freshman Ella Rishko scored a pair of goals and had another goal wiped out in the first quarter after an instant replay review, an experimental rule in place for selected conference games in the 2023 season.

North Carolina 16, Clemson 6

North Carolina scored just once in the first quarter, but then exploded for seven straight goals to take command in a 16-6 victory over Clemson.

The Tar Heels defense was stellar, limiting Clemson to just 16 shots in the game and forcing the Tigers into 18 turnovers. Defender Emily Nalls had four caused turnovers for UNC and Alecia Nicholas made four saves while allowing just the six goals.

Caroline Godine and Nicole Humphrey each scored three goals for North Carolina (13-3). Belle Martire led Clemson (12-6) with a pair of goals.

Around the Country

• Maggi Hall scored five goals as No. 8 Florida beat state rival Jacksonville 16-11. The Gators used a seven-goal run in the second half to break open a two-goal game.

• High Point handed Campbell its first Big South loss of the season, beating the Camels 15-14. Mandy Brockamp scored four goals for High Point, including the game-winner with 2:45 to play.

• Kenzie Sklar scored five goals as Kent State remained in a first-place tie in the Mid-American Conference with a 16-15 victory over Detroit Mercy.

• Meagan Beal set a school record with 11 points (6g, 5a) in Furman’s 23-13 victory over Wofford. Furman’s 23 goals set a new school single game mark.