Greyhounds avenge Patriot upsets
The lacrosse goddesses continue to smile on unflappable Loyola Maryland, which maintained its record streak of regular-season Patriot League wins on Saturday against visiting Navy.
That was evident from the very start as the No. 14 Greyhounds found the back of the net three times in the first five minutes, ripping open a divide the No. 13 Midshipmen would fruitlessly chase all the way to their first Patriot League loss.
Loyola upped its untarnished regularseason conference mark to 48-0 by rocking visiting Navy, 16-6, at Ridley Athletic Complex. That is the longest such streak in Division I lacrosse.
Navy (9-3, 4-1) suffered its first loss since falling to top-ranked Boston College in early March.
“This is a game that will galvanize women’s lacrosse,” Navy coach Cindy Timchal said, “but disappointing in the same way.”
If anyone was going to ruin the impressive streak it would have been Navy, which upset Loyola three times over the previous two seasons.
The Mids dispatched the Hounds in the 2017 and 2018 Patriot League Tournament championship game, as well as in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last spring.
But that was all ancient history for Loyola on Saturday.
“Yeah, it’s been a two-year story. One that we obviously want to change the narrative to,” Greyhounds coach Jen Adams said. “At the same time, it’s not written, it’s not patent. We’ve just got to take care of our own business.”
With the victory, the Greyhounds (9-5, 5-0) will more-than-likely earn home-field advantage for the Patriot League Championship game, which could very well wind up as a rematch between the two squads.
The now sole-reigning queens of the conference standings were energy-efficient, cashing in on 16 of their 22 shots despite only winning eight of 24 draws. At the same time, Loyola’s defense jammed Navy’s offensive circuits by causing 16 turnovers. The Mids, too, only capitalized on 6 of their 24 shots.
UMBC 16, Hartford 1: Julia Hatmaker (Century) scored four goals to lead an offensive explosion as the Retrievers earned their third straight win. Senior Payton Van Kirk recorded her 100th career point on the strength of three goals and one assist while Jenna Baverman (Roland Park) forced five of 14 caused turnovers for UMBC.
Salisbury 22, Frostburg 3: Senior attack Courtney Fegan (South River) and junior running mate Gianna Demato scored three goals apiece to lead a balanced attack as the Sea Gulls rolled.
Widener 23, Hood 10: Cassidy O’Neill netted three goals, Rachel Slater scored two goals and had three assists, while Laura Skorobatsch (Northeast) and Jess Lyons (Gerstell Academy) notched two goals apiece, but the Blazers were outdone by the Pride.
York 16, St. Mary’s College 7: Devin Hursey (Westminster) tallied five goals and two assists and Regan Cook added four goals and four ground balls to lead the Spartans (8-4, 2-0 CAC) over the Seahawks.
Keystone 19, Notre Dame (Md) 15: Savanna Robinson registered five goals and five assists and Alex Smith collected five goals and an assist. Megan Morales (Catholic) had seven goals and an assist.
Nation
No. 6 Northwestern 20, No. 16 Johns Hopkins 13: Claire Quinn scored a careerhigh five goals on six shots as the Wildcats extended their winning streak to five games. Scane Izzy added four goals and an assist for Northwestern (9-3, 3-0), which outscored Hopkins (9-4, 1-2) 15-7 in the second half.
No. 1 Boston College 20, No. 13 Duke 12: Senior captain Dempsey Arsenault totaled six points on the strength of five goals as the top-ranked Eagles continued their dominance of Top 15 schools.
No. 19 Florida 18, Vanderbilt 9: Sydney Pirreca scored a season-high four goals as the Gators moved to 2-0 in the American Athletic Conference.
No. 9 Penn 9, Brown 8: Gabby Rosenzweig scored three goals, including the game-winner with 1:57 remaining, as the Quakers narrowly avoided the upset in an Ivy League showdown. Erin Barry and Zoe Belodeau scored two goals each for Penn (9-2, 3-0).
No. 5 North Carolina 17, Louisville 6: Jamie Ortega amassed six goals and three assists in the first half alone as the Tar Heels routed the host Cardinals in ACC action. Ally Mastroianni scored a career-high four goals and added three caused turnovers for North Carolina (10-3, 3-2).
No. 18 Denver 12, Georgetown 9: Quintin Hoch-Bullen recorded four goals and an assist and Julia Feiss added three goals and an assist to push the Pioneers (1-2, 2-0 Big East) past the Hoyas. Morgan Ryan scored three goals, while Francesca Whitehurst (Roland Park) added two goals and as many assists for Georgetown (7-5, 1-1).