NCAA Lacrosse: #14 North Carolina Men’s Lacrosse Upsets #1 Maryland 10-8 At Capital One Field

Freshman goalkeeper Kieran Burke made 15 saves and Jimmy Bitter and Joey Sankey recorded hat tricks as #14 North Carolina defeated #1 Maryland 10-8 Saturday afternoon at Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium.
A crowd of 3,053 fans saw the Tar Heels beat Maryland in the regular-season matchup for the fourth straight year to improve to 5-3 on the season and 1-1 in the ACC. The Terps suffered their first loss of the campaign and are now 6-1 overall and 1-1 in the conference.
The Tar Heels bolted to a 9-3 lead in the game midway through the third quarter before weathering a late run by the Terrapins, who scored five of the last six goals of the game. But Burke repeatedly came up big in the cage for Carolina, matching his career high for saves, set previously against Notre Dame. With the Tar Heels holding a four-goal lead heading into the fourth quarter, he was at his best. The Terps outshot Carolina 15-4 in the fourth quarter as the Tar Heels struggled to hold on to the ball, committing seven turnovers in the fourth period. But Burke made six fourth-quarter saves and the Tar Heels earned a much-needed win.
Bitter led the Tar Heels with a five-point game, scoring three times and passing for two assists. Sankey also added a hat trick and Marcus Holman had two goals and two assists. It was the seventh career hat trick for Sankey and the sixth career hat trick for Bitter.
Carolina posted a win over a #1-ranked team for the first time since it beat Johns Hopkins 13-9 on April 1, 2012 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. Prior to that win, Carolina had gone 16 years without a win over a #1 team.
Maryland had three different players – Kevin Cooper, Owen Blye and Jake Bernhardt – score two goals apiece in the game.
The Terps finished with a 37-30 edge in shots and a 37-27 margin in ground balls. The Tar Heels had a slight edge at the face-off circle, 11-10. The Tar Heels committed 17 turnovers to only 13 for the Terps. But Burke was the margin with his 15 saves. Niko Amato finished with 11 saves for the Terps as Carolina put 22 of 30 shots on cage. The Tar Heels also excelled in the clearing game, being successful on all 18 tries during the game.
Maryland opened the scoring on an Owen Blye goal 47 seconds into the match. Carolina responded in quick manner, notching the next two scores. Chad Tutton scored on an outside bounce shot, with an assist by Holman, with 11:45 to play in the quarter and, just 57 seconds later, Jimmy Bitter put the Heels up when he converted a fast break off an assist by Greg McBride.

NCAA Lacrosse: Denver Women’s Lacrosse (9-1) Dominates Holy Cross 16-8 On March 23

University of Denver senior Mikayla Clark (Eden Prairie, Minn.) scored a career-high four goals and redshirt sophomore goalie Hannah Hook (Arnold, Md.) made 11 saves, leading the Pioneers to a 16-8 victory over Holy Cross on Saturday afternoon.
Sophomore Jill Remenapp (Woodbine, Md.) had a pair of goals and three assists for the Pioneers (9-1, 1-0 MPSF), and redshirt senior Kara Secora (Denver, Colo.) recorded her eighth hat trick of the year and added an assist. Defensively, senior Kate Henrich (Lansdale, Pa.) registered four draw controls and three caused turnovers.
“It has been a long but fun week on the road,” head coach Liza Kelly said. “We haven’t practiced or played on the same field for any given day. Despite the roller coaster, I think the team worked hard against two good New England teams. I thought Hannah had a great week, as did Jill.”
After Holy Cross (4-7) scored the game’s first goal, Denver responded with three-straight goals in a 2:24 stretch. The Crusaders tied the game at 3-3 with 16:18 left in the first half, but the Pioneers scored two more and took a 5-4 edge to halftime.
DU wasted no time coming back from the break, rattling off five goals in the first 5:44 to give Denver a lead that proved insurmountable.
Holy Cross pulled to within four at 12-8 with 10:54 remaining, but the Pioneers sealed the victory with four-straight goals to end the game.
The Pioneers remain on the road next weekend for a pair of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation games, traveling to San Diego State on Friday, March 29, and Southern California on Sunday, March 31.

NCAA Div III Lacrosse: Colorado College Men’s Lacrosse (5-3) Overcome Five-Goal Deficit To Tie Game In 4th Quarter, Lose To #3 Dickinson 11-10 On Goal In Final Minute At Biddle Field On March 22

Nick Leon scored the deciding goal with 40 seconds remaining in the game to give No. 3 Dickinson College an 11-10 victory over Colorado College on a blustery Friday night at DC’s Biddle Field.
The Red Devils appeared to be in complete control when they took an 8-3 lead on the first of three markers by Leon with 4:25 remaining in the first half.
Determined not to let the opportunity of playing another top-ranked team go to waste, the Tigers turned in a dominating performance in the third period and tied the game at 8-8 when junior midfielder Jack Kreitler scored with 1:30 to play.
Sophomore midfielder Henri Halle started the comeback with a man-up goal midway through the stanza. Freshman midfielder Eric Neumeyer and junior midfielder Will Harris struck just seven seconds apart to cut CC’s deficit to 8-6, and sophomore midfielder Taylor Paul made it a one-goal affair with 3:31 on the clock.
Dickinson took a two-goal lead when Tyler White and Parker Waldron scored in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, but freshman goaltender Chase Murphy stopped the next four shots to keep the Tigers within striking distance.
Colorado College pulled to within 10-9 when junior attacker Tyler Allen found the net midway through the fourth quarter, and senior attacker Steve Rijo notched the equalizer off a feed from Kreitler with 2:42 to go.
The Tigers stopped the Red Devils on their next possession, but the home team escaped with the victory when Leon scored in the final minute.
Murphy matched his season high with 16 saves, the fifth time this season he has turned aside double-digit shots.

NCAA Lacrosse: San Diego State Women’s Lacrosse (6-2) Score Game’s Final 3 Goals To Beat Oregon 12-10 On March 22

Junior Meris Walsh scored a game-high four goals, and sophomore Michaela Jarvis had four assists to lift the San Diego State Lacrosse team to a road victory over Oregon, 12-10, on Friday. SDSU (6-2) has now won four-straight games and is 2-0 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) play for the first time in program history.
The Aztecs scored the final three goals of the game to erase a one-point deficit with 13:29 remaining and earn their first-ever win over Oregon. Sophomore Sophie Koubek’s goal off a pass from Jarvis tied the game, 10-10, with 9:18 to go, and Walsh’s score on a free-position shot put SDSU ahead for good with just over eight minutes left. Koubek added an unassisted score with 48 seconds on the clock to help seal the win.
Junior Christina Ricciardulli recorded three goals, six draw controls and two caused turnovers for the Aztecs, who trailed by one at halftime before outscoring the Ducks, 8-5, in the second half. Koubek finished with two goals, while Bailey Ewing, Grace Korandovich and freshman Felice Artuso each scored one. Sophomore Jade Jones forced two turnovers, and Korandovich scooped up three groundballs.
After Walsh’s goal gave SDSU the lead 11 seconds into the game, Oregon scored the next four points to take a 4-1 lead with 11:27 to go in the first half. With the Ducks ahead, 5-2, the Aztecs went on a 5-0 run, including a 3-0 spurt to start the second half, to take the lead, 7-5, with 26:44 left. From that point, there were four ties and three lead changes down the stretch.

NCAA Div II Lacrosse: Colorado Mesa Men’s Lacrosse (3-2) Opens WILA Play With 8-4 Road Win Over Notre Dame De Namur (2-4) On March 21

The Colorado Mesa University Men’s Lacrosse team opened up Western Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (WILA) play on Thursday night with a match against the Notre Dame de Namur Argos in Belmont, Calif. Colorado Mesa prevailed with an 8-4 win over NDNU and improved to 3-2 on the season and 1-0 in the WILA while the Argos fell to 2-4, 0-1 in WILA matches.
The Mavericks trailed 3-2 heading into halftime but came out in the third quarter and scored five goals while shutting out their opponents.
The two teams split the faceoffs with each team winning eight but the Mavericks had a decisive edge in groundball pickups 30-23 and saves 14-8.
Austin Pridham recorded his second consecutive hat trick with all three of his goals coming in the third period. His first goal proved to be the game-winner. Kade Robinson added two goals for the offense.
Brad Brandenburg picked up the win in goal making 14 saves between the pipes and teammate Josh Russell led the team in groundballs with four.
The Mavericks will have a showdown with WILA rival Dominican on Saturday at 3:00pm from San Rafael, Calif.