Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:
1. No. 13 Syracuse halted a brief two-game losing streak last night by outlasting No. 20 Princeton, 17-16, in the only matchup of ranked teams on the NCAA Division I women's schedule.
The Orange finished a five-game road trip 3-2, rebounding from losses at Notre Dame Saturday and at No. 12 Northwestern Monday — the latter knocking Syracuse out of the top 10. The Orange won just the second meeting between the schools despite surrendering a 9-5 halftime lead and nearly doing the same with a 17-14 advantage with 4:12 to play. Molly Carter's conversion of a Riley Donahue feed at that time proved to be the game winner, but the Tigers — themselves now having dropped two straight and three of four — almost negated a second significant deficit in the closing minutes.
Princeton won consecutive draws to set up Colby Chanenchuk and Marge Donovan for goals, the latter bringing the Tigers within one at 2:55. Ella Simpkins won the ensuing draw for Syracuse, which survived a brief exchange of turnovers and several fouls to hang on for the win.
No. 15 Colorado was not as fortunate, however, getting upset by in-state rival Denver, 10-8, under the lights at Peter Barton Stadium. The Pioneers twice commanded four-goal leads, the first time on Caitlin Derry's score via an Eliza Radochonski assist with just four seconds left in the first half and the second on Julia Feiss' unassisted tally with 5:44 remaining in the second.
Late yellow cards allowed Colorado to close within two and then Denver to run out the clock.
In another nailbiter, Morgan Girardi scored the go-ahead goal with 3:19 to play and teammate Brittany Fenney caused a turnover with 10 seconds left as Detroit Mercy rallied past Kennesaw State, 11-10. The Titans had trailed, 8-6, with 20 minutes remaining before Girardi scored her first of three in the frame.
2. Yesterday we released here a portion of a 12-page feature package in the upcoming April issue of US Lacrosse Magazine entitled “The Faces and Voices of the Black Lacrosse Community.”
Not unlike other sports, and life, lacrosse has had its share of racially controversial incidents, along with frequently less-publicized efforts to make it more inclusive. But what are the perspectives of black players themselves as they compete in a sport mostly played by whites? The April edition sought to examine that with depth.
The online release leads off with Cornell senior Joey Coffy, a first-team IWLCA Regional All-American and All-Ivy League midfielder in 2016 and a former three-sport athlete at the Hotchkiss (Conn.) School. Monday will feature Michigan senior Chase Young.
3. No. 3 Maryland needed a spark from a freshman? Yes, indeed, and Grace Griffin was there to ignite it.
Griffin represents the lone freshman in the starting lineup for the defending national champion, which needed every bit of her four-goal, breakout game against then-No. 2 James Madison Saturday. She followed that with three goals and two assists in a 17-5 defeat of Georgetown Wednesday.
“It was one of those ah-ha moments where you’re like, I belong and I’m here and I’ve worked hard for this and I can contribute to this team,” Griffin, who was initially skeptical of attending Maryland, said.
4. Culver Military Academy (Ind.), ranked No. 1 in this week's Nike/US Lacrosse National High School Boys' Top 25, remained undefeated with an 8-7 win at No. 13 McDonogh (Md.) in an intersectional game yesterday.
Jake Stevens scored the game-winner with 1:02 to play, and Culver survived three shot attempts by McDonogh in the final seconds. Culver moved to 11-0 and played its fifth game in seven days in the East, but it hadn't been tested like it was by McDonogh. As reported by The Baltimore Sun, the hosts grabbed an early lead before settling for a halftime tie, then battled back to tie the game at 7. McDonogh held Culver to seven goals below its season average.