It's probably pretty safe to say that when Loyola's women's lacrosse team saw its 2018 schedule for the first time, the first date they looked to find was when it would face Navy.
Navy ended Loyola's 2017 season in stunning fashion. The Mids hammered Loyola on its own turf, 15-5, to win the Patriot League championship and begin its Cinderella run to the NCAA semifinals.
Loyola, meanwhile, saw a 41-game winning streak in the Patriot League (regular season and postseason) come to an end. Perhaps more importantly, there was no NCAA at-large bid awaiting the Greyhounds. Instead, a season they fully expected to continue was suddenly over.
Today was a day for Loyola to try and erase some of those demons. The Greyhounds did just that, but not before getting a scare. Loyola gave up a four-goal second half lead, but scored the final five goals of the game to earn a 16-12 victory over Navy.
Navy (9-3, 4-1 Patriot League), jumped out to an early 4-1 lead behind a hat trick from Kelly Larkin, but Loyola answered with seven straight goals and led 8-5 at the half.
Taylor VanThof pushed Loyola's lead to 10-6 with 22:44 left in the second half, but Navy scored five straight goals in less than three minutes, regaining the lead 11-10 on Andie O'Sullivan's goal with 18:44 left.
VanThof tied it less than a minute later, but Julia Collins put Navy up 12-11 with 16:22 to play. Loyola coach Jen Adams then inserted Kaitlyn Larsson in goal and Navy didn't score again. Larrson made five saves without allowing a goal to earn the victory.
Livy Rosenzweig tied it for Loyola with 11:29 to play and Frankie Kamely scored the game-winner with 10:28 to play. Hannah Savage had two goals and an assist on Loyola's game-ending run.
VanThof and Savage each scored four goals for Loyola (9-3, 5-0 Patriot League), which saw an eight-game winning streak end with a loss to Syracuse on Thursday. Rosenzweig added three goals and three assists along with seven draw contols.
Larkin led Navy with four goals and two assists and Ingrid Boyum made 14 saves.
Boston College Stays Perfect
Boston College has the nation's No. 2 ranked offense and not even a steady rain throughout Saturday's 18-8 win at Duke could slow it down.
The Eagles (14-0, 5-0 ACC) scored nine goals in the opening 16 minutes of the game, including a five--goal run in a span of just over three minutes midway through the first that buried Duke's upset hopes.
With Boston College face-guarding Duke star freshman Charlotte North, the Blue Devils had to look for other answers, and its strong and deep rookie class delivered early on.
Duke's first three goals all came from freshmen — Katie Cronin, Catriona Barry and Abby Landry — with Barry and Landry scoring back-to-back goals to cut an early Boston College lead to 4-3. But then the Eagles went on a rapid-five goal run that included a pair of goals from Sam Apuzzo and Duke never recovered.
Pouring rain can't slow @BCwlax offense. Eagles with nine goals in opening 15 minutes and lead @DukeWLAX 12-5 at half. pic.twitter.com/Hz3FgzPCwn
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) April 7, 2018
Dempsey Arsenault led Boston College with a career-high five goals and Apuzzo and Kaileen Hart each had three goals and two assists.
Cronin led Duke (7-5, 2-3 ACC) with a hat trick and Barry and Landry each scored twice.
Hokies Storm Past Syracuse
Virginia Tech rallied late in the game and beat Syracuse 15-14 in double overtime on Tristan McGinley's game-winning goal. It was the first win ever for Tech over Syracuse in 10 career meetings.
Trailing 13-9 with under 10 minutes to play, the Hokies (11-4, 4-1 ACC) scored four straight goals, tying the game 13-13 on Paige Petty's tally with 3:30 left.
The lead was short-lived as Syracuse's Emily Hawryschuk answered with a free position goal on the other end with 2:11 left to give the Orange a 14-13 advantage.
Tech got possession after Hawryschuk's goal, but almost turned it over before Taylor Caskey fought hard for a ground ball in traffic and drew a foul. Caskey buried a free position shot with 1:29 left. Syracuse's Nicole Levy had a final shot in regulation, but Tech's Meagh Graham, who left the game briefly with an injury, came up with a big save to send it to overtime.
After a scoreless six-minute overtime period, Petty won the draw for Tech to start the second overtime session and then Julia Bolte fed McGinley from behind the goal just 31 seconds into the period for the game-winner.
Big-time comeback for @HokiesLax. Virginia Tech scores six of game's last seven goals, wins 15-14 over Syracuse in OT on Tristan McGinley's fourth goal. pic.twitter.com/EN2vi9qdwG
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) April 7, 2018
Petty led the Hokies with five goals and six draw controls and McGinley had four goals and an assist.
Virginia Tech has now beaten three ACC teams it had never beaten in school history before the season began — Louisville, Notre Dame and Syracuse. Its 11 wins ties a school record set in 1999 and matched last year.
Levy had six goals and an assist for the Orange (8-6, 0-4 ACC). Hawryschuk and Sam Swart each had three goals and Asa Goldstock made 11 saves.
Lambert Returns to Field
In the best story of the day, UMass-Lowell junior Noelle Lambert, who had part of her left leg amputated after a moped accident in the summer of 2016, made her return to the field on Saturday and scored a goal in the River Hawks 16-1 win over Hartford.
Why we love lacrosse today: Noelle Lambert returns to the field with a prosthetic leg almost 2 years after losing her left leg in an accident, scores a goal, and gets mobbed by her @RiverHawkWLax teammates. (video via @RiverHawkNation) pic.twitter.com/g78gkf9MhV
— Lax Sports Network (@LaxSportsNet) April 7, 2018
Games of Note
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No. 1 Stony Brook improved to 12-0 with an 18-5 win over Binghamton. Kylie Ohlmiller had six goals and an assist and Courtney Murphy scored four times.
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Katie Hoeg had a career-high seven points (5g, 2a) and Jamie Ortega had three goals and three assists as No. 6 North Carolina cruised past Louisville 16-6.
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Dartmouth gave No. 10 Penn all it could handle, but the Quakers scored the final three goals of the game to take the lead in the Ivy League with a 13-11 victory.
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Caitlin Derry had four goals and No. 19 Denver overcame an early 4-0 deficit to beat Cincinnati 17-11.
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Brown scored the final six goals of the game to rally past Cornell 14-13, the Bears first win over the Big Red since 1999. Carolina Zaffino scored the game-winner with 2:18 remaining in the game and Carolyn Paletta had four goals.
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Former Yale assistant coach Andrea Cofrin led her Columbia squad to a 12-10 victory at Yale on Saturday. Orna Madigan scored the game-winner with 4:09 left after Yale had scored five straight goals to tie the game 10-10.
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Elizabeth George had a career-high five goals, including two of Princeton's 10 free position shot goals, as the Tigers outscored Harvard 20-15. Julia Glynn had an eight-point (5g, 3a) day for Harvard.
Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Top 20 Scoreboard
No. 1 Stony Brook 18, Binghamton 5
No. 2 Boston College 18, No. 16 Duke 8
No. 5 North Carolina 16, Louisville 6
No. 6 Loyola 16, No. 12 Navy 12
No. 10 Penn 13, Dartmouth 11
No. 15 Virginia Tech 15, No. 17 Syracuse 14 (2 OT)
No. 19 Denver 17, Cincinnati 11