Virginia started its season with five straight wins, but the Cavaliers knew they’d face a new challenge when they began the ACC season — a slate that included matchups with five Top 10 teams.

After an opening win over Louisville, the Cavaliers struggled in nine-goal losses to Boston College and Duke, the latter coming on Friday. In an ultra-competitive conference, a split with Duke in Charlottesville could prove crucial for their NCAA tournament hopes.

Led by 13 saves from Charlie Campbell, Virginia pulled away for the huge 14-11 win over Duke to move to 2-2 in ACC play. The Cavaliers trailed by a goal at halftime, but exploded for 10 second-half goals to fuel the vicory.

Taylor Regan chipped in four goals for Virginia, all of them coming in the second half run.

Five different goal scorers helped give Duke the 5-4 halftime lead in a period that saw a three-goal run in less than three minutes. The Blue Devils outshot the Cavaliers 18-9 in the half, but Campbell made eight saves to keep her team in the game.

Regan scored three straight Virginia goals to help her team take a 7-6 lead with 21:41 left in the second half. Duke answered with goals from Catherine Cordrey and Caroline DeBellis.

Ashlyn McGovern then led a four-goal Virginia run over the span of five minutes, which pushed the lead to 11-8 with 13:15 left. Kiki Shaw, Lillie Kloak and Regan each tallied goals to seal the Cavaliers’ win.

Notre Dame Gets First Road Win

Notre Dame had only ventured out of South Bend, Ind. on one occasion prior to this weekend — a three-day trip that resulted in two losses to Syracuse last weekend by a combined seven goals.

The Fighting Irish rebounded with a blowout win over Liberty on Friday, but made another roadtrip to Louisville on Sunday. Although the first half was tightly contested, Notre Dame used a balanced offense to pull away for a 15-10 win — their first road win since their final game of the 2020 season.

Samantha Lynch dropped five goals and an assist to lead the Fighting Irish, while Kasey Choma chipped in four goals. Notre Dame won 21 of 27 draw controls, thanks to 11 from Andie Aldave.

UNC Cruises Past JMU

The duo of Katie Hoeg and Jamie Ortega had combined for 663 points entering Sunday's matchup with James Madison — two of the best resumes in the history of the sport.

Hoeg and Ortega showed why they're the unquestioned leaders of the North Carolina women's lacrosse team, combining for 15 points in a 15-5 victory over the Dukes on Sunday afternoon. Hoeg scored five times and added four assists to lead the Tar Heels, while Ortega scored four times and dished out two assists. Scottie Rose Growney chipped in three goals and three assists in the winning effort.

North Carolina battled back-and-forth with James Madison through the first 20 minutes, but Hoeg, Ortega and Growney combined to help the Tar Heels take a 6-3 halftime lead. Hoeg scored three goals in a run of seven out of eight that allowed North Carolina to take a 13-5 lead and cruise to the win.

Northwestern Blows Out Rutgers

Two days after topping Rutgers by 12 goals on Friday, Northwestern beat the Scarlet Knights by an even greater margin on Sunday afternoon.

Izzy Scane continued her torrid pace with six goals and two assists to lead the Wildcats to the 21-7 win over the Scarlet Knights. Lauren Gilbert also chipped in four goals in Northwestern’s seventh win over the season.

Madison Doucette made seven first-half saves, 11 in the entire game, to allow Northwestern to lead 12-4 at the break and push the lead in the second half.

Florida Gets Another AAC Win

Shannon Kavanagh scored four times and added three assists to lead Florida to the 14-7 victory over American Athletic Conference foe Temple on Sunday afternoon.

Kavanagh scored or assisted in Florida’s first four goals, part of a seven-goal, first-half run that gave the Gators a 7-1 lead close to halftime. Temple cut the deficit with goals from Jen Rodzewich and Bridget Whitaker before the half.

Jackie Cerchio cut the Gators’ lead to 8-5 with 23:15 left, but Kavanagh led a five-goal run to put the game away.

OTHER STORYLINES

• Grace Hobson, Jenny Kinsey and Molly Brock each picked up a hat trick to lead Jacksonville to the 16-5 victory over Radford.

• Ella Heaney and Katie Ramsay each scored four goals to lead USC to the 20-7 victory over Fresno State.

• Bea Behrins tallied six goals to lead Denver to the 17-5 win over Butler, completing the weekend sweep.

• Vanderbilt roared back from down five goals at halftime to get past Cincinnati 16-14, completing a weekend sweep. Griffin Gearhardt had three goals to lead the Commodores to the win.

Nike/US Lacrosse Top 20

No. 1 North Carolina 15, James Madison 5
No. 3 Northwestern 21, Rutgers 7
No. 4 Notre Dame 15, No. 17 Louisville 10
No. 7 Virginia 14, No. 10 Duke 11
No. 8 Penn State 13, Michigan 12 (OT)
No. 13 Jacksonville 16, Radford 5
No. 14 Florida 14, Temple 7
No. 15 USC 20, Fresno State 7

OTHER SCORES

Arizona State, UC Davis
Coastal Carolina 14, Delaware 7
Colgate 14, Boston U 9
Denver 17, Butler 5
Fairfield 15, Manhattan 11
Georgetown 18, Villanova 8
Old Dominion 13, East Carolina 12
Niagara 14, Siena 13
Quinnipiac 19, Iona 15
UConn 18, Marquette 13
UMass 19, Holy Cross 8
Vanderbilt 16, Cincinnati 14

Stetson at Mercer, PPD