March 3, 2008

Saturday, March 1

No. 3 Duke Pulls Out 14-13 Thriller Over No. 5 Maryland

Duke rallied from two multiple-goal deficits and got a game-winner from junior midfielder Jess Adam with three seconds remaining to pull out a 14-13 victory over Maryland on Saturday afternoon in Koskinen Stadium. Junior midfielder Carolyn Davis led the Blue Devils with six goals and one assist on the day. The match can be seen on-demand on www.ACCSelect.com.

The game started off looking eerily similar to the 19-18 defeat that the Blue Devils suffered last year to the Terps in College Park, Md. Maryland got off to a 6-3 lead just 12:02 into this contest, just as they had taken an 8-5 lead last year in the first half.

After calling its first timeout, Duke rattled off three straight goals to tie the game and then battled with Maryland the rest of the period to go into halftime down by one, 9-8. The Blue Devils trailed 8-7 at half in the 2007 meeting of the rivals.

The second half would prove to be a different story than last year. The Blue Devils and Terrapins traded the first six goals of the second stanza, with Maryland holding a one-goal advantage, 12-11, with 12:57 remaining. The Duke defense really locked down on the Terps' high-octane attack in the second half, limiting them to just four goals on 10 shots. Junior goalkeeper Kim Imbesi stepped up her game as well, making four second-half saves to finish with five for the match.

The final goal Maryland would get came with 12:23 left in the contest. At that point Duke was down 13-11. With just under two minutes remaining, Duke called a timeout down by one score.

Coming out of the timeout, Adam drove to the goal from the left wing, drawing a second defender over just enough to find Davis at the top of the fan. Davis pushed towards the goal, faked out her defender and tied the game with a high shot into the back of the net with 1:29 left.

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Late Second-Half Run Secures 13-8 Victory Over No. 4 Syracuse

It was the No. 2 Virginia Cavaliers that shut down the offensive minded No. 4 Syracuse Orange, 13-8, in a showdown between two top-five ranked teams Saturday afternoon in Klockner Stadium.

The Orange entered the game averaging 21 goals per outing this season, but were limited to only 23 shots in today's contest. Virginia used a 32-23 edge in shots and a 13-10 advantage in draw controls, including winning eight in the second half, to hold off the potent Syracuse offense.

Syracuse's defense allowed only 2.13 goals per game coming into the game, but junior All-American Blair Weymouth, playing in her first game of the season due to an early injury, tallied five scores alone for the Cavalier offense. Sophomore Brittany Kalkstein netted a season-high four goals herself, while junior Ashley McCulloch was a huge addition to settling and setting up the offense, as she dished out a game-high four assists.

No. 8 Penn Hands No. 6 Carolina First Loss, 8-7

The University of North Carolina women's lacrosse team, ranked No. 6 in this week's IWLCA coaches poll and Inside Lacrosse media poll, received their first loss of the season against the University of Pennsylvania on Saturday evening. The deciding goal came in the last 14 seconds by Penn's Melissa Lehman, who was unassisted in her third goal of the match. The loss now leaves Carolina 4-1 and improves Penn to 2-0.

The Tar Heels were led by Kristen Carr with three goals. Following Carr was Chelsea Parks with two goals, and Megan Bosica and Julie Ryan contributing one a piece. Ryan also had one assist along with Jamie Hanssen, who also had one.

The Quakers were led by Becca Edwards who had three goals and Lehman with three. Ali DeLuca and Chelsea Kocis scored one a piece for Penn.

No. 17 George Mason Drops Tech, 11-5

Senior captain and attacker Kady McBrearty led the team in points for the fourth time in the season's first five games, but the Virginia Tech women's lacrosse squad still suffered an 11-5 loss at No. 17 George Mason on Saturday afternoon.

Tech (1-4) was unable to come back after the Bulldogs dominated the first half, 4-0, and extended their advantage to 8-0 in the first 13 minutes of the second half.

George Mason (2-1) opened the scoring when Brittany Berger scored five minutes into the game. The Hokie defense held strong for the next 10 minutes until the Bulldogs found the back of the net again.

Sunday, March 2

Boston College Picks up First Win in 20-3 Victory Over St. Mary's College

Boston College tallied its first win of the season in a 20-3 victory over St. Mary's College Sunday afternoon. The Eagles led 14-3 after 30 minutes of play and shut out the Gaels in the second half to notch the victory. They are now 1-1 on the season while their opponent dropped to 0-2.

Sophomore Lauren Costello led the scoring with a career-high seven points on six goals and one assist. She also tallied the most draw controls with four. Junior captain Jenna McCabe recorded six points on four goals and two assists. Other contributors included senior captain Shauna Culhane (4g, 1a), junior Maura Mahoney (1g, 4a), junior Emily Hannigan (1a) and junior Lauren Fitzpatrick (1a).

Senior captain Shauna Culhane nailed the Eagles' first two goals of the game before four minutes had ticked off the clock. At the 14:41 mark with a 6-2 lead, BC rattled off eight straight goals before time expired in the half.