(5) Penn State vs. Colgate
✅ Final: (5) Penn State def. Colgate 13-11
🔥 Top Performer: Liam Matthews, Penn State — The Orangeville, Ontario, native and product of The Hill Academy was about as clutch as you could be in a game that featured six ties and was arguably the most chaotic game of the season. Matthews scored the tiebreaker that mattered most, depositing his fourth goal of the evening for a 12-11 lead. Prior to the goal, Colgate had come up with a huge defensive stop, forcing a shot clock violation after a pair of feeble Penn State attempts. But the Raiders committed their 23rd turnover on the clear. Live by the sword, die by the sword. With 43 combined turnovers, the game was Colgate's flavor and the chaos almost — almost — finished in its favor.
💥 Key Moment: The aforementioned Matthews goal was huge. The next faceoff was the key moment, though. Reid Gills won it cleanly for the Nittany Lions, allowing Jeff Tambroni to kill some clock before calling a timeout with 38 seconds to go. Out of the timeout, Matt Traynor scored for a little cushion.
⏭️ Next: Penn State plays the winner of Sunday's must-watch game between Ohio State and Notre Dame. Ohio State beat the Nittany Lions 13-9 earlier this season.
— Kenny DeJohn
(3) Princeton vs. Towson
✅ Final: (3) Princeton def. Towson 22-12
🔥 Top Performer: Tucker Wade, Princeton — The sophomore midfielder from Bethesda, Md., scored a career-high five goals and added two assists in the Tigers' onslaught. Opponents know to account for Coulter Mackesy, who surpassed the great Jesse Hubbard as Princeton's all-time leading goal scorer, and Nate Kabiri, who also had five goals and two assists. But when the middies get going, look out.
💥 Key Moment: Princeton got up 4-1 early but gave Towson new life in the second quarter. Aided by three failed Princeton clears and four turnovers in the frame, Towson rallied to tie at 5. That lasted all of 49 seconds, however. Wade buried a pass from Peter Buonano and then Princeton added three more goals in a 35-second stretch to snuff out any thought of an upset. Princeton shot 17-for-20 after Towson tied the game. A six-goal flurry at the end of the third quarter put it out of reach. The last time Towson gave up 22 goals? The 1996 NCAA quarterfinals against Princeton.
⏭️ Next: Princeton plays the winner of Sunday's first-round game between Harvard and Syracuse in the NCAA quarterfinals next Saturday on Long Island. There's plenty history with both teams, one being an Ivy League foe (the Tigers have already defeated the Crimson twice this season) and the other being an old rival. Princeton and Syracuse have only played each other once since 2013, but before that, they played every year and met on in the NCAA tournament 10 times between 1992 and 2003 — including four national championship games.
— Matt DaSilva
(8) North Carolina vs. Richmond
✅ Final: Richmond def. (8) North Carolina 13-10
🔥 Top Performer: Lucas Littlejohn, Richmond — The sophomore attackman from Courtise, Ontario, scored two of his game-high four goals during a three-goal salvo to open the third quarter and tied the game at 5 after the Spiders' offense struggled to get anything going for most of the first half. "Our game plan was to outlast them," Littlejohn said afterward on ESPNU. "Outlast them in every aspect of the game."
💥 Key Moment: Littlejohn credited senior attackman Max Merklinger for the halftime talk that allowed the Spiders to reset despite trailing 5-2. Then Merklinger backed up his words, scoring on a buzzer beater from beyond the restraining line to tie the game at 9 at the end of the third quarter. Though Dominic Pietramala scored early in the fourth quarter to push North Carolina back in front, Littlejohn answered less than a minute later, igniting game-ending four-goal run to give Richmond the first NCAA tournament win in the program's 12-year history. This is the sixth NCAA tournament appearance for the Atlantic 10 champion. Littlejohn also staved off three defenders to secure a late ground ball and timeout while clinging to a two-goal lead.
⏭️ Next: The Spiders will play the winner of Sunday's game between UAlbany and top-seeded Cornell in the NCAA quarterfinals on Long Island. It could be a rematch with the Big Red. No. 1 seeds are 21-0 in the first round since the tournament expanded in 2003. Cornell barely beat Richmond 12-11 during the regular season. Never count out the Spiders. "For the last 12 years we've focused on everything that we have," coach Dan Chemotti said on ESPNU, "not things that we're lacking." Now that includes an NCAA tournament victory.
— Matt DaSilva
Read: Third-Quarter Blitz Leads Richmond to First-Ever NCAA Tournament Win
(7) Duke vs. Georgetown
Saturday, 7:30 p.m. EDT (ESPNU)
