Saturday Roundup

Duke picked up its first win over a ranked opponent since a February victory over Northwestern, posting an impressive 17-10 victory at No. 13 Syracuse on Saturday.

Since beginning the season 3-0, Duke had dropped four of its last seven games, but battled tough against Penn and Virginia the last two weekends before falling by four goals in both games.

"I can’t say enough how proud I am of our team," said Duke head coach Kerstin Kimel. "We’re coming off of two really tough losses in big games, and I think our kids’ commitment to not just using this week to prepare for Syracuse, but to make ourselves better, really showed here. We’ve had good weeks where we’ve practiced well, prepared well and it hasn’t really translated to the field. I think it did today. To do it here, in a tough environment to play in, I’m just so proud."

Duke (7-4, 2-2 ACC) has had no trouble scoring the season, but has surrendered an average of 14.8 goals in its four losses. The defense was up to the challenge on Saturday against Syracuse, holding the nation's No. 5 ranked scoring offense to 10 goals, matching the Orange's season-low.

Duke sophomore goalie Gabbe Cadoux came on late in the first half and finished the game with six saves, all in the second half, and allowed just four goals. The Blue Devils also forced Syracuse into 17 turnovers in the game.

With the game tied 3-3, Olivia Jenner, Kyra Harney and Charlotte North scored consecutive goals for the Blue Devils and they never relinquished the lead.

Syracuse (7-5, 0-3 ACC) pulled to within two goals on three occasions, the last time coming on Molly Carter's goal with 19:35 left in the game, cutting Duke's lead to 10-8.

But the same Duke trio combined for another three-goal run, this time coming in a span of just 1:09, to help the Blue Devils salt away the win.

Harney and Jenner each had four goals, North had three and Grace Fallon had a goal and five assists. Duke also dominated the draw, 20-9, with Jenner securing seven draw controls and Maddie Crutchfield grabbing five to go along with her two goals.

Syracuse, completing a brutal stretch of its schedule that featured road games at Notre Dame, Northwestern and Princeton before coming home for the Duke game in a span of just eight days, was led by Riley Donahue with three goals and an assist. The Orange won just one of those four games, a 17-16 win at Princeton on Thursday.

Boston College Wins Lucky No. 13

A slow start didn't matter as No. 2 Boston College improved to a perfect 13-0 on the season with a 15-12 victory over No. 9 Virginia. The 13 consecutive victories is a new school record for last year's national runner-up, who also improved to 4-0 in the ACC.

Avery Shoemaker had a hat track in the opening nine minutes of the game to stake Virginia to an early 4-1 lead before Boston College responded with five straight goals, two by Tess Chandler. Virginia answered the run with back-to-back goals by Chloe Jones and Shoemaker to tie the game 6-6 at the half.

For the first time this year, undefeated No. 2 @BCwlax is tied at halftime, 6-6, with No. 9 @UVAWomensLax. Virginia's Shoemaker scored this game-tying goal with 6:34 left in the first half. #NCAAWLAX pic.twitter.com/QPnNl0HVB4

— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) March 31, 2018

Boston College broke the game open late in the second half, with another five goal run. Leading 9-8, Emma Schurr scored with 11:36 to play to kick off the run that ended on Cara Urbank's goal with 4:50 left to put the Eagles up 14-8.

Sammy Mueller scored three straight goals for Virginia, but Sam Apuzzo ended the threat with Boston College's final goal with 1:31 remaining.

Chandler, Kaileen Hart and Dempsey Arsenault each had three goals for BC. Shoemaker (4g) and Mueller (3g, 2a) led the Cavaliers (8-3, 3-2 ACC).

Ortega Leads North Carolina to Another Close Win

Playing against her older sister's team, North Carolina freshman Jamie Ortega had a career-high six goals to lead the Tar Heels to a 13-12 win over Notre Dame. It was the No. 8 Tar Heels second consecutive one-goal victory and third of the season.

"I'm getting used to these close games," UNC head coach Jenny Levy joked afterward.  "Finding different ways to win against different teams certainly builds toughness. The score was a little closer than what I would've liked personally, but it is what it is and we'll use it to teach, guide and get better. Credit to Notre Dame for playing well."

The first two goals of the game were scored by the Ortega sisters - Notre Dame's Nikki scoring less than three minutes into the game before Jamie scored her first to tie the game 1-1 with 19:47 left in the opening half.

Notre Dame (6-6, 2-4 ACC) scored the next three goals, including another by Nikki Ortega, to take a 4-1 lead and the Irish led the game 6-2 at the half. Notre Dame goalie Samantha Giacolone made nine of her 13 saves in the opening half.

Jamie Ortega scored just 49 seconds into the second half to open up the floodgates for North Carolina. The Tar Heels scored six goals in the first 10 minutes of the half, taking the lead 8-7 on Katie Hoeg's goal with 20:32 left.

Notre Dame tied it less than a minute later on a goal by Katie Enrietto, but Jamie Ortega answered to give the Tar Heels the lead for good. A 5-1 UNC run, ended with UNC up 13-9 on Marie McCool's goal with 7:11 to play.

Notre Dame made a final late charge, scoring three straight goals to pull within one goal on Savannah Buchanan's goal with 1:49 remaining, but the Irish were unable to get off a shot before time expired.

North Carolina improved to 8-3 overall and 3-1 in the ACC with the win.

Petty Sparks Virginia Tech Comeback Win

Despite a rough first half in which it gave up 11 goals, No. 18 Virginia Tech (10-4, 3-1 ACC) rallied in the second half for a 15-14 victory at Louisville (6-7, 0-4 ACC). Virginia Tech set a program record with three ACC wins in a season.

Virginia Tech freshman Paige Petty had a career-high seven goals to spark the comeback, five of them coming in the second half.

Trailing 13-10 with 18:30 remaining in the game, Petty and sophomore Taylor Caskey combined for five straight goals, three by Petty and two by Caskey, to give the Hokies their first lead since jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the contest.

Louisville's Jillian Balog cut the Tech lead to 15-14 with 2:24 to play, but Petty won the ensuing draw and the Hokies ran the clock down under a minute before Louisville got the ball and the Cardinals turned it over without getting off a shot.

Petty also had an assist in the game to finish with eight points and Caskey had four goals. Tessa Chad led Louisville with five goals.