PHILADELPHIA – Jenna Collins helped the Navy women snap a long streak in the Patriot League last Sunday, and she helped the Midshipmen make more history in the NCAA tournament first round Friday.

The junior midfielder had three goals and two assists as Navy (16-4) knocked off a ranked team for the first time in program history, beating No. 7 seed Penn, 11-10, Friday evening in the opening round of the NCAA tournament at Penn Park.

“It’s amazing,” Collins said. “We made history for the Naval Academy, and I think we’re all just living in this moment. It’s amazing.”

Collins was the Patriot League Midfielder of the Year and the conference tournament Most Outstanding Player as Navy upset top-seeded Loyola for the automatic qualifier in the Patriot tournament final Sunday. Five days later they proved it was no fluke in a win over Penn (13-4).

“I think it affected a lot because it gave us the confidence to go and play this game,” Collins said. “It’s an awesome win.”

Navy has won its previous four opening-round games in NCAA tournament play, but the first three of those were play-in games and a fourth in 2013 was a first-round game in which they were favored over Monmouth. They came in as underdogs Friday, but won their seventh-straight contest to keep their end-of-season momentum.

“Last week we went out and Loyola had a 41-game winning streak in the Patriot League, and we went in and made a statement that we were ready to play in the tournament,” Collins said. “We just carried that energy over to this game. If we keep playing that way, we’re unbeatable.”

The Midshipmen advance to Sunday’s 1 p.m. second-round game at Penn against UMass, which pulled away from Colorado in the second half for a 13-7 win to avenge an 11-7 loss to them in the regular season.

“UMass has had a very solid run in the A-10 conference,” said Navy coach Cindy Timchal. “They play tough defense, they have key attacking players, they win the tough games. They played Richmond in the finals and won by one, so they can win close games. UMass is that team that doesn’t care who they’re playing, they’re going to step on the field and play tough.

“All we want to do is be as prepared as we can in the one-day preparation that we have to play on Sunday.”

Penn jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the first 20 minutes of the game on two goals and an assist from Emily Rogers-Healion. Andie O’Sullivan responded with three straight goals before the half to tie it, 5-5. She led Navy in scoring with four goals and two assists.

“Never giving up,” said Collins of the mindset. “Things weren’t really going for us in the first half and we kept playing and playing together and never gave up on ourselves or our teammates and pulled it out in the end.”

Navy scored five of the first six goals to start the second half with Collins notching the first two. Her twin sister, Julia Collins, scored one of her two goals in that stretch and O’Sullivan deposited her game-high fourth goal of the game. Meg O’Donnell’s score from Kelly Larkin gave Navy a 10-6 lead with 14:12 left.

Penn responded with three straight goals, two from Gabby Rosenzweig sandwiched around a score from Erin Barry, to cut it to 10-9 with still 9:02 left.

“Penn took us to the limit,” Timchal said. “We got a little bit of a lead, but they came back and almost tied it up. It was a great game. I was proud of the team for holding through to the very end and pulling out the victory.”

Julia Collins’ second goal of the game from her sister’s feed made it 11-9 with 5:52 left but Penn’s Natalie Stefan cut the lead to one goal with 3:36 left. Jenna Collins picked up the ensuing draw control and Navy defender Blake Smith knocked away Rosenzweig’s tying attempt with a minute and a half left before running out the clock.

Ingrid Boyum made 11 saves to backstop the Navy defense that limited Penn’s leading goal scorer, Alex Condon, to one goal.

“That was hard,” Timchal said. “I’d seen almost every Penn game, replayed or live… I knew how dangerous Condon was, and I just wanted us to protect the middle and try to limit her opportunities offensively, and doing so other players on their team did step up. All around they can strike from all different areas.”

Rosenzweig led Penn with three goals, Rogers-Healion had four points and Barry had two goals. Penn’s Britt Brown finished with seven saves.

Navy has never advanced past the second round of the NCAA tournament. They’ll look to maintain momentum and make more history Sunday.

“Our energy level is through the roof now,” Collins said. “If we keep playing at that level this whole tournament, we’ll be golden.”

PHOTO BY KEVIN P. TUCKER

Navy will be taking on a UMass team that returns experience from a team that won two NCAA games last year to make the quarterfinals. The Minutewomen have made the second round of the NCAA tournament four of the last five years.

“The majority of our team is used to an NCAA environment,” said UMass captain Hannah Murphy. “It’s a pressure situation. Experience helped us today.”

Holly Turner had four goals and two assists to lead a strong offense that was ranked fourth in the country this year. Hannah Burnett had four goals. Murphy had two goals and two assists and helped UMass dominate draw control, 15-7. Lauren Hiller was outstanding in goal with 16 saves.

UMass (17-3) won its 16^th straight game after starting the season 1-3, including a four-goal loss to Colorado (16-4) on Feb. 17 in its second game of the season. The Minutewomen dominated as the rematch played out Friday.

“At halftime, we decided we have more in the tank and we have to unload,” Murphy said. “We just brought the energy second half. We were a little flat the first half.”

UMass led, 6-5, at halftime after scoring the final three goals of the first half. Colorado’s Darby Kiernan scored the first goal of the second half to tie it before UMass ripped off five straight goals to lead, 11-6, with 13:58 left. Colorado, which was led by Kiernan’s three goals and two assists and Katie Macleay’s three goals, never recovered in ending their first NCAA appearance in heartbreak.

“We wanted that rematch,” Murphy said. “Colorado is a great team. We used that first game as fuel for this game.”

High Point also pulled a first round upset, revving up its offense in a 21-15 upset over No. 19 Towson, the school's first NCAA tournament win in any sport, and the lacrosse team's first win over a ranked opponent in school history.

"I'm just really happy for this team right now," HPU head coach Lyndsey Boswell said. "We've prepared all year for this and I couldn't be more proud of the leadership we showed today."

The 36 combined goals set a NCAA single game tournament record and High Point's Darla Poulin tied her career-high with six goals to help the Panthers overcome an early 5-2 deficit. High Point has now won 16 consecutive games and plays at No. 1 Maryland on Sunday.

PHOTO BY JOHN STROHSACKER

Kylie Ohlmiller set the NCAA single season scoring record as Stony Brook downed Bryant 21-6 in a NCAA first round game. Ohmiller had six points (3g, 3a), giving her 151 for the season to break the NCAA mark of 148 set by Maryland’s Jen Adams in 2001. No. 8 seed Stony Brook went on a 10-goal run that begin midway through the first half to pull away from a 5-4 lead. Dorrien Van Dyke led the Seawolves with seven goals and Taryn Ohlmiller had four goals and two assists.

The Seawolves will host Northwestern on Sunday. Northwestern posted an impressive 15-7 win over Albany on Friday night. Senior Danita Stroup matched her career-high with six goals and sophomore defender Claire Quinn, who had three goals in her first 32 career games, matched that total in the first half alone and finished with four goals. Senior Christine Esposito had a career-high five assists.

Cornell will get another chance to play Ivy League rival Princeton after dominating the second half in a 12-7 victory over Notre Dame. Cornell scored the final two goals of the first half to tie it 5-5 at the break, and then scored the first four goals of the second half and never trailed again. Catherine Ellis and Taylor Reed each had three goals for the Big Red and Renee Poullott made 10 saves. Cornell plays at No. 5 seed Princeton on Sunday in the second round, the third meeting between the two schools this season Princeton won the regular season matchup 12-11 on April 22 and then beat the Big Red 12-9 last Sunday.

James Madison scored the final five goals of the game to post a 12-6 victory over Louisville. Hannah Koloski had a pair of goals during a 3-1 Louisville run that pulled the Cardinals to within 7-6 with 15:48 remaining in the game, but the Dukes took care of business on its 5-0 run to close the game. Kristen Gaudian led JMU with four goals. The Dukes will play at No. 4 seed Penn State on Sunday.

Michaela Michael had four goals, three assists and 10 draw controls as USC downed Jacksonville 13-10 to move onto the second round of the NCAA tournament. Michael was one of four Trojans to record hat tricks with Kylie Drexel netting three goals and three assists, and Cynthia Del Core and Kaeli Huff each scoring three goals. Danielle Della Rocca led Jacksonville with three goals and two assists. USC (17-3) has won 11 straight games and will play at No. 3 seed Florida on Sunday.

Sam Apuzzo became the first Boston College player to score 100 points in a season as the Eagles downed Canisius 21-9. The Eagles dug an early 5-2 deficit through the first 13 plus minutes of the game, but dominated the rest of the way to advance to Sunday’s second-round game at Syracuse. Apuzzo had three goals and four assists to give her 67 goals and 33 assists for the season. The 67 goals broke Covie Stanwick’s school record of 65. Katie Weeks also had five goals to give her 65 for the season and Kenzie Kent had two goals and five assists. BC plays at ACC rival and No. 6 seed Syracuse on Sunday. Syracuse won the first meeting 18-8 back on February 11.

Virginia avenged a season-opening loss to Elon, beating the Phoenix 11-9 in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. Virginia scored the first four goals of the game and led by six goals with just under 22 minutes remaining in the game, but Elon made a late push. The Phoenix had two separate three-goal runs in the second half, but ran out of time. Maggie Jackson had four goals for the Cavaliers and Avery Shoemaker had three goals and an assist. Virginia (12-8) will play at defending national champion North Carolina on Sunday.

NCAA Division I First Round

High Point 21, Towson 15
Northwestern 15, Albany 7
Stony Brook 21, Bryant 6
Cornell 12, Notre Dame 7
James Madison 12, Louisville 6
USC 13, Jacksonville 10
Boston College 21, Canisius 9
Navy 11, Penn 10
Massachusetts 13, Colorado 7
Virginia 11, Elon 9