No. 6 Notre Dame scored four straight goals in the second half to upset No. 4 Georgetown, 12-9, in the NCAA women's lacrosse tournament quarterfinals yesterday in South Bend, Ind.
The Hoyas led 8-7 with 17:10 to go in regulation, but the Irish went on a 4-0 run over a span of 3:31 to take an 11-8 lead.
The Irish raced out to a 4-1 lead through the opening 13 minutes with Jill Byers scoring three times. Georgetown scored five of the first half's final six goals and took its first lead at 5-4 with 5:07 left on a goal by Coco Stanwick (Notre Dame Prep).
Notre Dame's trio of Byers, Crysti Foote and Caitlin McKinney combined for nine goals, three apiece, and six assists.
"We had two goals coming into this season," Notre Dame's Christi Foote said. "We had a goal to win the Big East, and [Georgetown] took that from us, and a goal to win the NCAA championship. When they took the Big East championship from us, it sunk in. We came back today and wanted to win badly."
Stanwick and Schuyler Sutton (Severn) each had three goals for Georgetown (13-4), and Maggie Koch made eight saves.
Notre Dame (15-3) travels to Boston in its first final four and will face Dartmouth.
No. 12 Dartmouth 7, No. 8 Princeton 6 -- Casey Hazel (Maryvale) scored on a pass from Kristen Barry with 2:46 remaining in the second overtime period to give the host Big Green (13-5) the win over the Tigers (12-6) in an NCAA quarterfinal. "Obviously we needed a goal," Hazel said, "and everyone was going really hard. There was a lot of intensity toward the end." Dartmouth goalie Devon Wills had seven saves, four ground balls and one caused turnover. She stopped a point-blank shot by Princeton's Allison Murray (three goals) with less than a minute to go in overtime to secure the win. Jen Pittman had three goals and an assist to lead Dartmouth.
No. 3 Northwestern 17, No. 5 North Carolina 6 -- Trailing 5-3 in the first half, the host Wildcats regrouped after a timeout and went on a 14-1 run to end the game as Northwestern (18-1) earned its second straight trip to the final four. Aly Josephs (Franklin) led the Wildcats with four goals, followed by Kristen Kjellman and Meredith Frank with three. Brooke Dieringer and Melissa McCarthy each had two for the Tar Heels (13-6). The defending national champions will face Duke in Boston in the NCAA semifinals.
No. 3 Duke 16, No. 13 James Madison 6 -- The host Blue Devils (18-2) advanced to their second straight final four and third in school history by beating the Dukes (15-5). The Blue Devils improved to 18-2 this year. Duke also set school records for wins in a season (18) and wins over ranked opponents in a season (11). Caroline Cryer finished with a game-high four goals and two assists for a career-best six points. Kelly Berger and Lynlea Cronin paced James Madison with two goals each.
Division III women
The College of New Jersey 13, Middlebury 9 -- The defending national champion Lions (14-2) advanced to their third straight title game by defeating the Panthers (16-2). The College of New Jersey will face Gettysburg in the finals today at noon at Stevens Tech.
Gettysburg 11, Cortland State 7 -- Katie Ceglarski had two goals and three assists as the Bullets (21-0) defeated the Red Dragons (19-1) in the NCAA semifinals at Stevens Tech. It is Gettysburg's first trip to the national title game.
Division II men
LeMoyne 22, Limestone 3 -- Mike McDonald scored a career-high seven goals to lead the Dolphins (17-0) past the visiting Saints (11-7) in the NCAA semifinals. LeMoyne will face the winner of today's semifinal between Mercyhurst and Dowling.