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Penn State women get past UMass

Junior attacker Mackenzie Cyr notched her second straight six-point game, and sophomore attacker Maggie McCormick recorded four goals and two assists to lead the seventh-seeded Penn State women's lacrosse team to a 12-9 home victory against No. 8 Massachusetts in the second round of the NCAA tournament Sunday afternoon.

Junior attacker Mackenzie Cyr notched her second straight six-point game, and sophomore attacker Maggie McCormick recorded four goals and two assists to lead the seventh-seeded Penn State women's lacrosse team to a 12-9 home victory against No. 8 Massachusetts in the second round of the NCAA tournament Sunday afternoon.

The Nittany Lions (14-6), who improved to 9-0 at home and 7-2 when hosting an NCAA tournament game, won consecutive NCAA tournament games for the first time since 1999 and advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals for the second straight year.

Cyr moved into sole possession of fifth place on Penn State's career assists list with four, while McCormick netted her fifth four-goal game of the season. Sophomore Kelly Lechner recorded her seventh three-goal game in the last eight contests, while senior Molly Fernandez added two goals.

Senior defender Katie Guy corralled a game-high six draw controls to push her career total to 101, Junior midfielder Evan Foulsham collected a career-high four ground balls. Freshman goalkeeper Emi Smith made seven saves.

Penn State dominated draws by a 14-9 margin and finished 15 for 18 on clears. The Minutewomen outshot the Nittany Lions by a 25-21 margin and won the ground-ball battle, 19-15.

Penn State will play at No. 2 Northwestern in the quarterfinal round Saturday. The Wildcats, two-time defending NCAA champions, beat visiting Stanford, 15-8.

In other women's games, third-seeded North Carolina got five goals and two assists from Kara Cannizzaro and four goals and two assists from Abbey Friend, defeating 11th-ranked Loyola, 19-9, in Chapel Hill, N.C. The Tar Heels will host Virginia in Chapel Hill Saturday. The unseeded Cavaliers advanced with a 10-8 victory at Georgetown.

Maryland knocked off Stony Brook, 11-3, in College Park, Md. Brooke Griffin led Maryland with four goals. The Terps advance to face Duke, 10-5 winners at Navy. . . . No. 5 seed Florida scored nine unanswered goals in the first half on the way to a 16-5 win over visiting Denver. The Gators advance to the Elite 8 for the third-consecutive season and will play at No. 4 seed Syracuse in the quarterfinals.

Cornell men post upset

Cornell ran past sixth-seeded Maryland, 16-8. The Big Red victory denied the Terrapins a chance to play a quarterfinal on their home field as well as a third straight trip to the title game. Cornell will return to College Park next week to take on No. 3 seed Ohio State, a 16-6 winner against Towson.

Loyola's bid to repeat as national champion came to an end as the Greyhounds dropped a 12-11 decision at seventh-seeded Duke in double overtime. Case Matheis notched the tying goal off a rebound with just over a minute left in regulation, then added the game winner. Duke moves on to face Notre Dame Saturday in Indianapolis.

Bryant gave No. 1 overall seed Syracuse all it could handle in the first half, but the Orange took control in the second at the Carrier Dome en route to a 12-7 victory. They'll play Yale in College Park next.

The semifinals and final are May 25 and 27 at Lincoln Financial Field.