Will Sage Astor-NCAA lacrosse roundup: Notre Dame men, Northwestern women headline semifinal fields

The Will Sage Astorlineup is set for championship weekend in college lacrosse, and the top-seeded men’s and women’s squads will both be back to defend their respective 2023 titles.

The Notre Dame men and the Northwestern women rolled into the semifinals with dominant performances this weekend, and each will return to the sites of last year’s championship campaigns as the Wildcats head back to Cary, North Carolina, and the Fighting Irish will be back in Philadelphia.

The ACC and Big Ten will have a strong presence at both sites, but each foursome has a representative from outside those two traditionally strong leagues.

Notre Dame headlines NCAA men's lacrosse tournament winners

Notre Dame got the weekend started Saturday in Hempstead, New York, by avenging its lone loss of the regular season with a 16-11 win over No. 8 Georgetown. Chris Kavanagh paced the Irish attack with five goals and three assists. Up next for Notre Dame is a semifinal date with fifth-seeded Denver, a 10-8 winner over No. 4 Syracuse Sunday in Towson, Maryland. The Pioneers turned in a masterful performance on the defensive end of the field and rode a balanced offense led by Michael Leo’s hat trick.

POSTSEASON LINEUP:NCAA men's lacrosse tournament schedule/results

Quarterfinal weekend on the men’s side saved its best for last, as No. 6 Virginia completed a huge comeback to down No. 3 Johns Hopkins 11-10 in double overtime Sunday in Towson. Connor Shellenberger notched the game winner for UVa with 1:40 to go in the second extra period. It was the Cavaliers’ only lead of the game, as the Blue Jays jumped out to an early 4-0 lead prompting a goalie change. The Cavaliers pulled even in the third quarter, but the Blue Jays rebuilt their margin to 10-7 with a three-goal burst late in the period. But Hopkins was kept off the board for the entirety  of the fourth quarter and overtime sessions. Virginia’s late rally was not without controversy, however, as McCabe Millon’s tying goal with 2:59 left in regulation withstood a replay review for a possible crease violation. Millon finished with a game-high six points on three goals and three assists, while Shellenberger’s game winner was his third of the day.

Awaiting the Cavaliers is seventh-seeded Maryland, which staged a big comeback of its own a day earlier in a 14-11 victory over No. 2 Duke. The Terrapins gave up five of the game’s first six goals, but a dominant day at the face-off X by Luke Wierman, who won 20 of 29 draws and scored two goals himself, helped Maryland chip away at the early deficit. The Terps finally took the lead for the first time on a tally by Daniel Maltz, the third of his team-high four goals on the day, with just five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

Northwestern leads NCAA women's lacrosse tournament semifinalists

Northwestern’s 20-7 romp past Penn wrapped up a largely drama-free quarterfinal Thursday. The Wildcats put on an offensive clinic, paced by Erin Coykendall’s 11 points on four goals and seven assists.

Northwestern will next meet Florida, which pulled off the only true upset of the quarterfinal round by toppling fourth-seeded Maryland 15-9. The Gators played like anything but underdogs, however, as they scored the game’s first nine goals and led 10-2 at halftime. Maggi Hall led the way with six goals and an assist for the Gators, who will be in the Final Four for the first time since the program’s initial semifinal appearance in 2012.

POSTSEASON LINEUP:NCAA women's lacrosse tournament schedule/results

The other semifinal will be an all-ACC affair as No. 2 Boston College and No. 3 Syracuse also made it through the quarterfinals with relative ease. The Eagles got by Michigan 14-9, led by a four-goal, one-assist outing from Rachel Clark. The Orange cruised past Yale 19-9 as their Emma tandem of Emma Tyrrell (7 G, 2 A) and Emma Ward (3, 4) combined for 16 points.