Virginia Tech's eight-member senior class celebrated its final home game in style, beating archrival Virginia 16-12 at Lane Stadium to clinch the No. 3 seed for next week's Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.
It was just the Hokies' second win ever over the Cavaliers, and another milestone in the dramatic turnaround since John Sung took over the program prior to the 2017 season. Tech had gone 3-62 in the ACC in 12 seasons prior to Sung's arrival and hadn't won a conference game since 2012. The Hokies won two ACC games last year, including a win over eventual NCAA runner-up Boston College, but have taken it to a new level this season.
Saturday's win was the 12th of the year for the Hokies, setting a new school record, and improved their ACC mark to 5-2, equaling the number of ACC wins they had in their first 13 seasons of league play combined.
It was another setback for a struggling Virginia team that began the season 5-0, including wins over Princeton and Syracuse. Virginia has now lost six of its last seven games heading into the ACC tournament.
The Cavaliers (9-8, 4-3 ACC) scored the first three goals of the game and did not trail until Virginia Tech (12-5, 5-2 ACC) scored three goals in the final 67 seconds of the first half to cap a five-goal run that gave the Hokies a 10-7 halftime lead.
Tristan McGinley finishes from Marissa Davey and @HokieLax scores last 5 of first half, including three in final 67 seconds, to lead @UVAWomensLax 10-7 at half. pic.twitter.com/8BPM1Bik1Z
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) April 21, 2018
Virginia battled back, scoring three straight goals to tie the game 11-11 on Kasey Behr's career-high fifth goal of the game with 13:49 remaining.
Julia Bolte and Marissa Davey scored back-to-back goals for Virginia Tech, and then after Virginia's Sammy Muller brought the Cavaliers to within one goal at 13-12 with 11:22 remaining, the Hokies closed the game on a three-goal scoring run.
Virginia Tech goalie Meagh Graham made 10 saves and created havoc all around the cage. Graham intercepted one Virginia pass for a turnover and also collected a team-high five ground balls.
Freshman Paige Petty led Virginia Tech with four goals, all in the first half, Davey (2g, 3a) was one of four Hokies with two goals. Virginia Tech improved to 9-1 at home, winning nine straight games since a season-opening loss to USC, but this was the first home game they had played outdoors. Their previous nine home games had been played at the school's indoor football practice facility.
Behr's five goals led Virginia, and Mueller and Avery Shoemaker each had two goals and an assist. Rachel Vander Kolk made 13 saves for the Cavaliers.
Gators Beat Denver to Clinch Big East Title
Florida had to battle snowy conditions and the altitude of the Rocky Mountains, but the No. 6 Gators persevered for an 18-13 victory over Denver to clinch the Big East regular season title and the No. 1 seed for the Big East tournament, which will be held May 3-5 in Gainesville.
Florida (13-3, 8-0 Big East) dominated early, scoring the first six goals of the game, but Denver came back with a torrid seven-goal rally to take a 7-6 lead late in the first half. Florida's Allie Pavinelli scored with just one second left in the half to knot things at 7-7.
Florida scored three straight goals to open the second half, but the Pioneers hung around, stringing together consecutive goals three times in the second half.
"Every time we went on a roll, Denver answered back, so credit to them," said Florida coach Amanda O'Leary. "We did a good job in the second half making adjustments at both ends of the field."
Lindsey Ronbeck scored four of her five goals in the second half to help the Gators pull away, including two goals of a three-goal run that gave the Gators a 16-11 lead after Denver had cut the margin to 13-11.
Sydney Pirreca scored four times for Florida and Shayne Pirreca and Shannon Kavanagh each had two goals and three assists. Kavanagh also grabbed 11 draw controls.
Julia Feiss had three goals and three assists for Denver (10-5, 5-3 Big East) and Quintin Hoch-Bullen added a hat trick.
Ortega Shines as North Carolina Routs Rival Duke
Senior Day at North Carolina turned into Freshman Day as rookie Jamie Ortega poured in seven goals, one away from the school record, in the No. 5 Tar Heels' 20-10 rout of Tobacco Road rival Duke.
It didn't start out as a rout.
Olivia Jenner scored Duke's first three goals, giving the Blue Devils an early 3-1 lead and Kyra Harney's goals with 16:51 left in the first half put Duke on top 5-4.
But Carolina then ripped off 10 straight goals to close half, including five goals in the final three minutes of the half.
The second half wasn't any better for Duke. Ortega scored UNC's first three goals of the second half and the Tar Heels lead eventually reached 13 goals, helped in part by this behind-the-back goal by Katie Hoeg off an assist from Ortega.
See you on @SportsCenter! Katie Hoeg goes behind her back for the #SCTop10 goal pic.twitter.com/TebVYuL4ys
— UNC Women's Lacrosse (@uncwlax) April 21, 2018
Marie McCool added four goals and an assist for North Carolina and Hoeg had four assists to go along with her goal.
Jenner had four goals, an assist and eight draw controls for Duke and Charlotte North scored three times .
Dartmouth Headed to Ivy League Tournament
Dartmouth is headed to the Ivy League tournament for the first time since 2013 after routing Yale 17-4.
The Big Green improved to 10-3 and 5-1 in the Ivy League behind four goals from sophomore Ellie Carson, three goals and two assists from junior Kierra Sweeney and three goals and an assist from sophomore Kaite Bourque.
Dartmouth has scored in double-digit goals in every game this season and has averaged 17.3 goals per game during its current three-game winning streak.
Games of Note
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Kylie Ohlmiller set the NCAA career records for points and assists as No. 1 Stony Brook pulled away from UMBC for a 22-7 win. Ohlmiller had two goals and six assists in the game and Courtney Murphy (8g, 3a) had a career-high 11 points.
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Shelby Fredericks had nine assists, one away the school record and two away from the NCAA record, as No. 7 Northwestern cruised past Rutgers 19-7. Northwestern has now won eight straight games to improve to 13-3 heading into Thursday's big showdown at No. 3 Maryland.
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No. 8 Penn scored 24 goals, just one way from the school record set in in 1977 against Franklin & Marshall, to outscore Harvard 24-13. Zoe Belodeau (5g, 4a) and Emily Rogers-Healion (4g, 5a) each had nine points for the Quakers.
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Freshman Livy Rosenzweig set a Loyola record with eight assists as the No. 9 Greyhounds downed Colgate 20-8. The Greyhounds clinched at least a share of the Patriot League regular season title and will host the event May 3-5.
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Kelly Larkin had a career-high 10 points (5g, 5a) as No. 12 Navy downed Lafayette 19-9.
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No. 18 High Point blew out Longwood 22-2 to post its 13th straight victory. The Panthers finished the Big South schedule at 7-0 and will host the league tournament May 4-6. Ashley Britton paced the offense with four goals and two assists.
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No. 20 Princeton dominated the second half to post a 15-10 victory over Cornell. The Big Red led 7-6 at the half, but Princeton scored the first five goals of the second half to take control. Kyla Sears (4g, 1a), Ellie McNulty (3g, 1a) and Tess D'Orsi (3g) led the offense for Princeton and Sam Fish made 12 saves.
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Georgetown overcame a dominant performance from Marquette freshman goalie Jules Horning, posting a 9-8 win in overimte. Horning made a career-best 19 saves, but Taylor Gebhardt scored her third goal of the game to give the Hoyas the win.
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Senior attacker Kristen Shriver set a Big South record with 10 goals as Winthrop downed Gardner-Webb 23-11.
Nike/US Lacrosse Women's Division I Top 20
No. 1 Stony Brook 22, UMBC 7
No. 5 North Carolina 20, Duke 10
No. 6 Florida 18, Denver 13
No. 7 Northwestern 19, Rutgers 7
No. 8 Penn 24, Harvard 13
No. 9 Loyola 20, Colgate 8
No. 12 Navy 19, Lafayette 9
No. 13 Virginia Tech 16, No. 17 Virginia 12
No. 15 Dartmouth 17, Yale 4
No. 18 High Point 22, Longwood 2
No. 20 Princeton 15, Cornell 10