Albany women advance to NCAA quarters

Jodi Battaglia and Persy Sample keyed a second-half run in leading the University of Albany to a 10-7 come-from-behind victory over Dartmouth in the first round of the women's lacrosse NCAA Tournament Sunday at rain-soaked Scully-Fahey Field in Hanover, N.H.

The Great Danes (18-0) advanced to meet second-seeded Northwestern (18-2) in an NCAA quarterfinal Saturday at 8 p.m.

Unseeded Dartmouth (11-5) erased a 5-4 deficit in the final period with consecutive goals but No. 7 Albany regained the lead with three straight goals in a four-minute stretch. Nikki Branchini, who moved up to offense from her defensive midfielder position, sent a free-position attempt into the right side of the cage to start the run. Sample, a freshman attacker, curled from the left and fired a low shot into the far right corner. Battaglia then made a full-extended catch of Sample's feed from behind to find the net and scored for an 8-6 advantage. The Great Danes, who entered NCAA play as the only undefeated in Division I, padded their margin in the final minutes.

Duke 12: Penn 9: Sixteen days after losing to the unseeded Quakers to close the regular season, No. 5 Duke (14-4) made amends, dropping the pesky Quakers (11-6) in a first-round matchup at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, N.C. The Blue Devils advance to face Florida (16-3) in the second round Saturday at 3 p.m. Kat Thomas led Duke with four goals and Sarah Bullard had three. -- News service reports