Florida got off to a fast start, won the draw control battle and got solid goaltending, but it still wasn't enough to get past No. 1 Maryland as the Terps posted a 16-14 victory over the No. 4 Gators on a sunny, warm day in Gainesville, Fla.

"We were a little slow to get started and Florida was going really hard," said Maryland head coach Cathy Reese. "They got out 2-0 pretty quick before we reset ourselves."

After the initial start, Maryland controlled play for much of the first half. The Terps answered with three straight goals and eventually took a 10-7 lead at the break. Jen Giles scored four times in the opening half for Maryland and Megan Taylor made seven of her 11 saves in the first 30 minutes.

A disastrous five-minute stretch in the second half doomed the Gators (1-1), beginning with a Shayna Pirreca goal that was wiped off the board for in illegal stick with 21:03 to play in the game. That goal would have pulled Florida to within 11-10.

Instead, over the next five minutes, Florida committed four fouls, was called for two yellow cards, two green cards and turned it over on its only possession as Maryland (2-0) rattled off five straight goals to take a 16-10 lead.

Megan Whittle scored three of her team-high five goals during Maryland's five-goal run and four of the goals for the Terps were man-up goals.

By the time Florida regrouped, it was too late. The Gators scored the final five goals of the game, pulling to within two goals on Sydney Pirreca's goal with 1:55 to play, but ran out of time in its comeback attempt.

"To be within two goals of this team is fantastic," said Florida head coach Amanda O'Leary. "Maryland is the number one team in the country, and I am so proud of our resolve in the way that we fought back at the end."

Whittle and Giles each buried three free position shots, helping the Terps convert 7-of-11 opportunities in the game.

"I wasn't real pleased with our settled offense, but we had a lot of eight-meter opportunities that we took advantage of," Reese said.

Sydney Pirreca had a huge offensive day for the Gators, posting six goals and two assists, and she also had a game-high seven draw controls. Shanya Pirreca and Lindsey Ronbeck each added hat tricks and Haley Hicklen made 14 saves. Florida was just 3-for-8 on its free position opportunities.

Penn State Survives Lehigh Scare

A week after getting upset at Towson, Penn State had another scare on the road before escaping with a 14-13 win over Lehigh. Lehigh's Kellie Gough almost had the equalizer with 34 seconds remaining, but she was whistled for a dangerous shot, wiping out the goal and the Nittany Lions were victorious.

"Overall, I'm really proud of our effort, but we're disappointed not to get the win," said Lehigh head coach Jill Redfern. "We're at the point now in our program and with this team where we expect to play with a Penn State. We were prepared and had a great game plan. Our coaching staff did a great job. We just came up a little bit short."

Madison Cunningham made 14 saves for Penn State and Madison Carter and Katie O'Donnell each had hat tricks. Carter had a game-high 10 draw controls.

Cortney Henig tied a career-high with seven points (3g, 4a) for Lehigh and Gough also scored three times. Lehigh freshman goalie Samantha Sagi made 16 saves.

Penn Opens With Win

Alex Condon scored four goals as Penn opened the 2018 season with a 12-5 victory over Delaware.

Penn scored the first three goals of the game and led 5-2 at the half, but Delaware scored the first two goals of the second half to pull within one goal. Condon responded by scoring back-to-back goals and the Quakers maintained at least a three-goal lead from that point forward.

Gabby Rosenzweig added three goals and an assist for the Quakers and Penn starting goalie Maggie Smith made six saves while allowing just two goals in 30 minutes between the pipes.

Rosenzweig tosses to Condon for her fourth goal of the day! pic.twitter.com/xVVHFg2IgV

— Penn Women's Lax (@PennWomensLax) February 17, 2018

Games of Note

• Dempsey Arsenault had five goals and Sam Apuzzo had four goals and four assists as Boston College controlled rival Boston University 18-6. Lauren Daly made eight saves in the win.

• Julia Collins tied a school record with 15 draw controls as No. 7 Navy stayed unbeaten with a 21-10 victory over Columbia. Leading just 10-8 early in the second half, Navy scored seven straight goals to take command. Jenna and Julia Collins, and Kelly Larkin all had four goals for Navy.

• No. 9 Towson and Georgetown had their game stopped due to snow with 14:22 to play and the Tigers leading 9-3 behind four goals from Carly Tellekamp. Kiley Keating had seven saves for the Tigers.

• Princeton opened its season with an impressive 17-4 win over previously unbeaten Temple. The No. 10 Tigers got a career-high five goals frrom Tess D'Orsi, four goals from Kathryn Hallett and a four-goal, two-assist effort from heralded freshman Kyla Sears.

• No. 15 Virginia dominated Elon 17-4 in its season opener. Maggie Jackson had four goals, three assists, five draw controls and three groundballs to lead the Cavaliers and Rachel Vander Kolk made 10 saves.

• Nikki Ortega and Andie Aldave each had three goals and three assists as No. 16 Notre Dame downed Jacksonville 17-6. Samantha Giacolone made 11 saves in the win.

• No. 17 Cornell opened the season with a 13-7 win over Villanova behind a phenomenal 18-save effort from sophomore goalie Katie McGahan, who was making her first career start. Caroline Allen had a hat trick to lead the Big Red offense.

• Hannah Burnett had six goals as No. 19 Massachusetts outscored Dartmouth 17-13 in the season opener for both teams. Leading just 8-7 at halftime, UMass outscored Dartmouth 6-1 in the opening eight minutes of the second half.

• Denver improved to 2-0 and handed Scott Teeter his first loss at Louisville as the Pioneers posted a 12-5 victory on a snowy day in Kentucky. Riley Eggeman led Denver with four goals and Carson Gregg made 10 saves.

• Yale parlayed a 16-7 advantage in draw controls into a 12-10 victory over Albany. Izzy Nixon had 10 draw controls for the Bulldogs and added a goal and three assists on the offensive side of the ball. Kayla Duperrouzel and Vanessa Yu each had hat tricks for Yale.

• After dropping its first two games against Top 20 opponents to find itself on the outside of the Top 20, Virginia Tech got healthy with a 20-3 win over Old Dominion. Kelci O'Donnell led the Hokies with four goals.

Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Top 20 Scoreboard

No. 1 Maryland 16, No. 4 Florida 14
No. 6 Boston College 18, Boston University 6
No. 7 Navy 21, Columbia 10
No. 9 Towson 9, Georgetown 3 (game stopped in 2nd half due to snow)
No. 10 Princeton 17, Temple 4
No. 12 Penn State 14, Lehigh 13
No. 14 Penn 12, Delaware 5
No. 15 Virginia 17, Elon 4
No. 16 Notre Dame 17, Jacksonville 6
No. 17 Cornell 13, Villanova 7
No. 19 Massachusetts 17, Dartmouth 13

Other Scores

Brown 18, Quinnipiac 7
Colgate 11, Vermont 9
Denver 12, Louisville 5
George Washington 16, Longwood 8
Harvard 14, New Hampshire 5
Hofstra 13, Bucknell 1
Marist 14, Army 11
Mount St. Mary's 12, Manhattan 8
Niagara 8, Binghamton 7
Richmond 13, American 6
Robert Morris 10, Duquesne 9
Rutgers 19, Monmouth 8
San Diego State 14, Arizona State 13
St. Joseph's 21, Central Connecticut 8
UMBC 16, LIU-Brooklyn 3
Viginia Tech 20, Old Dominion 3
Yale 12, Albany 10