PENN STATE BEATS HOPKINS IN OT THRILLER
Penn State was not to be denied. Not this year. Not this team.
Mac O’Keefe punctuated one of the most riveting games of this college lacrosse season, scoring his sixth goal on the first possession of overtime to lift the top-ranked and top-seeded Nittany Lions to an 18-17 victory over 15th-ranked and second-seeded Johns Hopkins in the Big Ten championship game Saturday in Piscataway, N.J.
O’Keefe added two assists for a team-high eight points, while Grant Ament set the NCAA single-season record for assists. Ament’s setup of a Jack Kelly man-up goal in the third quarter was his fourth assist of the game and 78th of the season, moving him past Albany’s Lyle Thompson (2014) and UMBC’s Steve Marohl (1992) for the record.
Joey Epstein, Johns Hopkins’ sensational freshman, scored seven goals and added two assists in what was a slugfest from the outset.
UVA WINS FIRST ACC TITLE SINCE 2010
Remember when Virginia couldn’t win an ACC game to save its life? Those days are long gone.
Remember when the Cavaliers’ defense consistently got shredded by conference foes? Also a relic of the past.
Thanks to a stifling defensive effort, top-seeded Virginia won its first ACC championship since 2010, defeating third-seeded Notre Dame 10-4 at Klockner Stadium on Saturday.
The Cavaliers frustrated the Fighting Irish into committing 23 turnovers, seven of which were caused by Logan Greco (four) and Jared Conners (three). Goalie Alex Rode backstopped the effort with 11 saves, as Virginia kept Notre Dame scoreless for more than 42 minutes spanning the second, third and fourth quarters.
Dox Aitken led the Cavaliers with three goals.
RICHMOND UPENDS HIGH POINT IN SOCON FINAL
Richmond outscored top-seeded High Point 10-3 in the second half and never trailed on its way to a dominant 15-7 win, claiming its second straight Southern Conference tournament title. The Spiders claim and conference’s NCAA tournament automatic qualifier and send the Panthers — ranked No. 16 in the Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Men’s Top 20, with wins over top-five RPI teams Virginia and Duke to their credit — into the perilous waters of the at-large pool.
TOWSON HOLDS OFF DREXEL
Tyler Canto made 17 saves and four different players scored hat tricks to lead Towson to a 16-14 victory over Drexel in the CAA championship game Saturday in Amherst, Mass., as the Tigers claimed their eighth conference title.
Towson, which will make its fourth NCAA tournament appearance in the last five years, scored five unanswered goals in a span of 5:21 at the end of the second quarter to break a 7-all tie and led 16-9 going into the fourth quarter.
The Dragons, who upset top seed UMass in the semifinals Saturday, nearly came all the way back, scoring five fourth-quarter goals.
PHOTO BY MARC PISCOTTY
GEORGETOWN REPEATS AS BIG EAST CHAMP
Daniel Bucaro (pictured) scored four goals, becoming Georgetown’s all-time leader with 145 for his career, as the Hoyas started hot and finished strong to defeat host Denver 12-9 in the Big East championship game Saturday.
Georgetown foiled the Pioneers in the final for the second straight year, though this time it threatens to keep Denver out of the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2009. The Pioneers now fall into a sea of at-large candidates and sit on the bubble alongside Cornell, High Point and Maryland.
MARIST WINS THIRD MAAC TITLE
Top-seeded Marist battled back from an early-three goal deficit to defeat Quinnipiac 15-14 in the MAAC championship game Saturday in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Freshman Jamison Embury had four goals and two assists for the Red Foxes, who claimed the third conference title in school history.