Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:
1. Four players scored consecutively in the second half for Notre Dame, ranked No. 7 in this week’s Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Men’s Top 20, as the Fighting Irish broke an 8-8 tie and defeated host Michigan, 12-9, last night in Ann Arbor, Mich. Charles Leonard won 20 of 24 faceoffs and collected a career-high 16 ground balls to fuel Notre Dame, which improved to 4-2 in advance of a big home game Saturday against unbeaten and fifth-ranked Ohio State.
The Fighting Irish led at halftime, 7-4, thanks in part to goals from Thomas McNamara and John Hallenback with under a minute to play in the second period. After the Wolverines tied the score at 8 midway through the third, Notre Dame got another momentum-inducing (or killing, depending on your perspective) late-period goal when Griffin Westlin tallied with just :01 left on the clock in that quarter. Unassisted goals from Wheaton Jackoboice (who added two assists), Brendan Gleason (who scored twice on the day), and Colin Morin gave the Fighing Irish their largest lead of the game
Elsewhere, No. 6 Cornell got off to a 9-1 lead and cruised past St. Bonaventure, 18-3, but drama ruled in New England. Harvard rallied from a five-goal deficit in the second half to eventually beat Boston University in triple overtime, 12-11. Charlie Olmert fed Nigel Andrews for the game-winner with 1:45 remaining in the third extra session. The Terriers had built a 9-4 lead late in the third quarter thanks in part to three goals and two assists from Chris Gray, but nearly lost the game in regulation when Olmert gave Harvard an 11-10 lead with 29 seconds to play. Gray scored his fourth with just a second to play to send the game to overtime.
Holy Cross won at Brown in double overtime, 11-10, when Drew Babiak converted a Kavin Hannan feed with 1.2 seconds to play. Host Quinnipiac surrendered a four-goal second half lead but rallied to edge Hartford in overtime, 17-16, thanks to Jake Tomsik’s late heroics. He scored on a pass from Foster Cuomo with 1:51 left in regulation to force overtime then nailed the game-winner 72 into the extra frame. Cuomo’s 10 points on seven goals and three assists tied a school record.
Other Division I men’s lacrosse scores:
Hobart 12, Colgate 6
Providence 14, UMass-Lowell 4
Fairfield 18, NJIT 5
St. Johns 15, Dartmouth 8
2. No. 1 Boston College and No. 3 North Carolina will enter their ACC collision Saturday in Chapel Hill each coming off a convincing win last night. The host Eagles got goals from seven players, including a team-high four from Sam Apuzzo, to handle Albany, 17-9. The Tar Heels continued to enjoy their new home field, dispatching Campbell, 16-5, behind four goals from Jamie Ortega and seven points from Katie Hoeg. BC and North Carolina will draw at noon in a rematch of last season’s conference championship game.
No. 11 Princeton built a late 12-8 lead and hung on for a 13-11 win at No. 17 Florida. Each team boasted three players that netted hat tricks, including Tiger Elizabeth George, who sealed the win on a power-play goal with 2:15 remaining after the Gators turned the ball over during their potential game-tying possession. Shannon Berry scooped the ground ball and fed George. Lindsey Ronbeck, Sydney Pirreca, and Madi Hall had given Florida hope with consecutive goals to trim the lead to one.
The rest of the Division I women’s slate provided only one overtime game. Villanova withstood two different Columbia comebacks, finally taming the Lions, 11-10, on Liz Trojan’s winner with 1:59 remaining in overtime. The Wildcats’ second-half leads of 7-3 and 10-8, the latter with the clock under 3 minutes in regulation, vanished before Trojan delivered the win on a free-position shot.
Other Division I women’s lacrosse scores:
No. 4 Syracuse 15, Harvard 6
No. 16 Johns Hopkins 17, UMBC 7
Coastal Carolina 15, UConn 14
Rutgers 16, Lafayette 15
Mercer 20, Kennesaw State 9
Siena 18, St. Bonaventure 6
3. USC has started 8-1 thanks in part to an up-tempo offense installed by first-year offensive coordinator Deemer Class. The Trojans lead off our Division I women’s notebook.
4. Mike Powell, a former world champion with Team USA and a four-time All-American at Syracuse, entered the music and art industries during an off-and-on professional lacrosse career. He joined Paul Carcaterra for this week’s episode of our “Overtime” podcast.
5. From the March edition of US Lacrosse Magazine, available now to members of US Lacrosse, more from our series of features on innovation in lacrosse: what’s next in the realm of wearable technology for athletes, and Warrior Sports has designed a chest protector that meets the new NOCSAE standard to help reduce the chances of commotio cordis.