• Upset winners USC, BC headed to NCAA Quarterfinals

PHILADELPHIA – Morgan Young had dreamed big for her senior season, but helping Navy reach its first NCAA tournament quarterfinal in dominant fashion was more than she could even imagine.

“Way better,” Morgan said. “I’ll take this.”

The senior captain was part of a record-setting offense that erupted in a 23-11 win for Navy (17-4) over UMass (17-4) in the NCAA second round Sunday at Penn Park in Philadelphia. Navy nearly matched their season-high 24 goals and the 12-goal margin of victory was the fourth-highest this season, but came against one of its toughest opponents, a UMass team that reached the quarterfinals themselves last year.

“I’m always shocked,” Young said, “but wow, I really can’t believe it.”

Julia Collins scored a school-record eight goals, Kelly Larkin had three goals and a career-high six assists for a career-high nine points, Julie Collins had two goals and a career-high six assists, and Young had three goals and four assists to match her career-high with seven points as Navy cruised into a quarterfinal matchup at second-seeded North Carolina next weekend. UNC beat Virginia, 23-12.

“We’ll enjoy this one, but it’s who you want to play in a game like that,” Young said. “You want to play the top dog, the defending national champions. That’s who you want to play. We wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Prior to this weekend, the Navy women had only won once officially in the NCAA tournament. They won three play-in games, and beat Monmouth in a first-round game back in 2013, their last trip to the NCAA tournament. It has been tough for them to get by Loyola in the Patriot League in Young’s first three seasons, but they did that last Sunday in the Patriot championship with a 10-goal win over Loyola to win the automatic qualifier. They are peaking at the perfect time after knocking off seventh-seeded host Penn on Friday and then UMass on Sunday.

“It’s nice,” said Navy head coach Cindy Timchal, who is taking her third different school to the quarterfinal round after previously taking both Northwestern and Maryland. “It happens sometimes. It’s an undeniable belief in themselves and the team process. We set out to do the little things and focus on that. It’s really helped.”
 

In a battle of two of the best in the country on the draw control, it was Navy, third-ranked on the draw, that dominated the top-ranked UMass team early and finished with a 20-14 edge. They won 6 of the first 9 to help take an 8-1 lead early in the game.

“We just had a really good game plan,” Young said. “The biggest thing was we stayed really disciplined. Aly (Messinger, Navy assistant coach) told us exactly what we needed to do, and we went out there and did it to perfection and we stayed with what we needed to do.”

When UMass did have the ball, they were done in by five turnovers, lost one goal to an illegal stick and misfired three other times. UMass only had five shots and Navy goalie Ingrid Boyum only had to make one save through the first 14 minutes of the first half. UMass’s rally followed a 7-3 edge on the draw control and a better shooting percentage.

Julia Collins scored four goals to pace the Navy attack in the first half. She had three of them in the first 10 minutes, two off feeds from Young, who had three assists in the half. Her final one of the half led to Larkin’s goal that made it 8-1 with 17:34 left in the half.

UMass scored six of the next eight goals to chip away at the deficit. Their goal scoring was balanced with Kaitlyn Cerasi getting two, Kiley Anderson scoring her second of the half and a goal apiece from Holly Turner, Hannah Murphy and Callie Santos. Navy scored the final two goals of the half after UMass had cut it to 10-7. Julia Collins’ fourth goal and Meg O’Donnell’s second built the Midshipmen lead back to five goals going into halftime.

“We were passing really well,” Young said. “We were shooting extremely well. We knew where to shoot on this goalie. Every time we scored, it was where we were supposed to shoot. To feed each other and work with each other well, it was so easy for us.”

PHOTO BY KEVIN P. TUCKER

Then came the second half when Navy left no doubt as they exploded again. They scored the first six goals of the second half to bring an 18-7 lead and a running clock. Kayla Harris scored a hat trick in that early run and later added a career-high fourth goal.

“We just kept getting draw control after draw control,” Young said. “I think that’s what carried the game for us. And to come out in the second half and score the first couple goals, that was what set this game apart.”

UMass managed to get it back to a stopped clock with three straight goals to bring their deficit to 18-10 with still 18:37 to play. Navy responded with five straight goals, including a gorgeous behind-the-back flip from O’Donnell off a feed from Jenna Collins.

“They played it out and kept the pressure on them,” Timchal said. “We didn’t stall it out, we kept challenging and pressing.”

Kaitlyn Cerasi had three goals and an assist to lead UMass. Callie Santos had three goals and Holly Turner had two assists. Lauren Hiller made two saves and Aileen Kelly made one in relief for the Atlantic 10 champions.

Boyum made seven saves for Navy before getting a curtain call. The Midshipmen will stay on the road where they are 10-2 this season to try to knock off another favored team, North Carolina. It’s a chance to make more history and keep playing together.

“We just hit a certain point and went forward together and started believing together and playing well together,” Young said. “We have each other’s back. We just work so well together and love each other so much. It’s unbelievable we’re going to keep going forward. People dream about having senior seasons like this, so I’m very fortunate.”

NCAA Division I Second Round Scores

No. 1 Maryland 21, High Point 6
No. 2 North Carolina 23, Virginia 12
USC 15, No. 3 Florida 12
No. 4 Penn State 19, James Madison 14
No. 5 Princeton 11, Cornell 9
Boston College 21, No. 6 Syracuse 10
No. 8 Stony Brook 13, Northwestern 9
Navy 23, Massachusetts 11