Triangle Sports Roundup: Sunday women’s lacrosse results

Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network

Strong second half sends Blue Devils past Navy, 10-3

DURHAM, N.C. – Freshman attacker Kyra Harney collected the first hat trick of her collegiate career and junior goalkeeper Kelsey Duryea recorded a season-high nine saves in the net to guide eighth-ranked Duke to a 10-3 defeat of Navy Sunday at Koskinen Stadium.

The Blue Devils moved to 3-0 following their first two weekends of action, while the Mids fell to 2-1 on the year.

Harney led all players with four points in the contest, assisting teammate Maddy Acton on a first-half score, and senior Brigid Smith logged three points on two goals and one assist.

Loren Generi paced Navy with one goal, two assists and five draw controls as the visiting squad held a 10-6 advantage in the category.

Generi started off the scoring 10 minutes into the game, but four early saves by Duryea kept the margin at just one until senior Katie Trees converted from the eight-meter three minutes later.

The Blue Devils went on to take the lead when Harney intercepted a pass on a Navy clear attempt and Acton capitalized on the offensive end.

Turnovers plagued both teams over the remainder of the period and into the second half. Despite the teams combining for 23 shots in the opening 30 minutes, the score remained 2-1 at the intermission.

The Mids won the opening draw of the second half but following three turnovers by the squads, it was Duke that would break through as Smith found classmate Taylor Trimble to push it to 3-1.

Senior Kerrin Maurer forced a turnover on Navy’s next clearing attempt, setting up Harney to assist Acton on her second goal of the day.

Facing a three-goal deficit, the Mids responded quickly on a win by Generi at the draw that led to a Casey Browne score.

However, solid defensive play and efficient shooting from the eight-meter mark prompted five unanswered goals by the Blue Devils.

Smith and Harney both registered two during the scoring burst and Maurer added another to extend the lead to 9-2 with 9:33 to play.

“Those caused turnovers, those ground balls are huge momentum changers for us,” Duryea said.

“We really work hard in practice to do that and have it translate to a game. The whole time, we were just trying to keep the momentum for our offense.”

Navy goalkeeper Annie Foky came up with a diving save on the following possession and Lindsay Rheiner finished at the other end on a dish from Generi.

Harney punctuated her outing in the final minute of regulation to seal the Duke victory.

The Blue Devils totaled 21 shots on the day to 20 by the Mids and picked up 21 ground balls to win the category.

Both teams committed 17 turnovers apiece, though Duke’s defensive unit held Navy to 0-for-4 on free position shots.

Trimble won a team-high two draw controls and sophomore Maura Schwitter, junior Claire Scarrone, Duryea and Harney all notched three ground balls each.

Up next, the Blue Devils face a quick turnaround, playing Northwestern at the Accelerated Center in Northbrook, Ill. Thursday, Feb. 19.

HPU women’s lax comeback against Oregon falls just short in 9-8 loss

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University women’s lacrosse team put forth a furious second half rally that came up just short, as visiting Oregon held on for a 9-8 victory Sunday at Vert Stadium.

Trailing 8-3 with 20:07 to play, HPU (0-2) posted five-straight goals over the next 14 minutes to tie the score with 6:35 to go.

But the Ducks’ Hayley Milner scored with 4:12 to go and the Panthers could not score on a final possession with less than a minute to play.

“We made some adjustments after Friday’s game and I thought we did a better job today of coming out strong and taking advantage of the possessions that we had,” head coach Lyndsey Boswell said.

“With our game, there’s momentum swings and we were on the short side of the stick to start that swing. We regained momentum after winning some draw controls and being able to execute on our shots. That’s how we got back into the game, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough.”

Oregon (2-0) held a 24-20 edge in shots for the game, although the Panthers held a 10-9 edge in the second half where they outscored the Ducks, 5-4. Oregon was +1 (10-9) on the draw, but High Point held the advantage in ground balls at 21-19.

After not scoring Friday at No. 2 UNC, senior Kendyl Gardner exploded for four goals in Sunday’s contest, with six of her seven shots coming on goal.

Junior Allie Foard tied her career high with four points on two goals and two assists, while also picking up a team-high five ground balls.

Sophomore Samantha Brown added a goal and an assist and caused a team-high two turnovers for HPU.

Senior Julia Burns had a strong day in the cage for the Panthers, making a career-high 11 saves while allowing just nine goals in a full 60 minutes of action.

Gardner posted the first goal of the game off a good feed from junior Kristina Renner at the 24:28 mark of the first half. After an Oregon goal, HPU once again took the lead at 2-1 on a free position goal from Foard.

Oregon posted the next two scores to take a 3-2 lead, but Gardner’s second goal off an assist from junior Leah Pace tied the score at 3-3 with 13:25 to go in the half.

Oregon posted the last two goals of the period to take a 5-3 lead into the break.

The Ducks kept their run going in the second half, registering three goals over the first 10 minutes of the period to build an 8-3 lead at the 20:07 mark.

The HPU drought from first to second half totaled 23:18 minutes.

At that point, the Panthers began their ferocious comeback.

Brown scored at the 19:02 mark off a good feed from junior Emily Meier to pull HPU within four (8-4).

Then, Gardner and Foard scored back-to-back goals to cut the Ducks’ lead to two (8-6) with 11:06 to go.

Less than a minute later, Gardner scored her fourth goal off a pass from Foard to cut it to 8-7.

Neither team could score for the next four minutes, but freshman Erica Perrotta came up big at the 6:24 mark, as Brown found the freshman in transition who buried a shot into the back of the cage to make it 8-8.

Oregon went back up one (9-8) at the 4:12 mark, and after HPU forced a Duck turnover with less than two minutes to play, the Panthers could not score on their final possession.

The Purple & White will remain at home to battle ACC foe Virginia Tech (1-2) on Friday at 6 p.m.

Notes: Trailing 8-3, HPU used a 5-0 run to tie the score at eight, but Oregon posted the game-winning goal with 4:12 remaining…Senior attack Kendyl Gardner led HPU with four goals and picked up three ground balls…Senior goalie Julia Burns posted a career-high 11 saves in the cage for the Panthers.