Vol. 8: BC Leapfrogs the Irish, While Usually Top-Heavy Pac-12 Remains Competitive
After Notre Dame sidestepped Boston College for the No. 4 spot, the Eagles returned to the top four with a sweep of the Irish. Plus, things are getting wild out West.
Boston College attacker Charlotte North rips a shot past Notre Dame goalie Bridget Deehan during the Eagles’ 18-12 win over the Irish on April 17. Photo courtesy: BC Athletics.
NOTE: National stats included are correct through April 20.
Boston College is a national title contender. Again.
That became crystal clear with last week’s sweep of No. 4 Notre Dame. The No. 5 Eagles delivered a pair of punches to the gut of the Irish, who have now lost three in a row after nearly pulling the upset of the season against top-ranked North Carolina.
In a much-anticipated 4/5 matchup under the lights of Alumni Stadium, the Eagles handed Notre Dame a 19-11 defeat. Goalie Rachel Hall registered a season-high 11 stops, and BC caused five turnovers. Sophomore midfielder Hollie Schleicher, eventually named IWLCA Co-Defensive Player of the Week, forced one and won four draw controls. As a team, BC claimed 20-of-33 bouts in the circle.
Head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein’s team shot out to a 6-0 lead in the first 12 minutes of play. Belle Smith led the Eagles’ high-powered offense—now ranked third nationally in scoring—with six points. The breakout freshman tallied four goals and a pair of assists. Charlotte North wasn’t far behind with four goals and a feeder.
BC, which at one point led, 16-6, never wavered.
The same was true on Saturday when the Eagles staked themselves to a 5-0 advantage. Before long, it was 11-3 BC, and you could already feel the polls shifting.
The Eagles were looking more like the program that made three straight national championships from 2017-19 than just the No. 5 team in the country. North piled up six goals and 10 draw controls. Graduate attacker Cara Urbank finished with four goals and two assists, and Courtney Weeks turned in her second consecutive hat trick.
Once again, the Eagles’ defense came to play, forcing nine possession changes. Schleicher, Smith, and Sydney Scales all caused two turnovers.
Although Notre Dame—led by Massachusetts native Madison Ahern and her four goals—outscored BC, 9-7, in the second period, the hole was too deep.
The now-No. 4 Eagles closed out an 18-12 victory, winning their eighth straight game and entering the final week of the regular season with one last pivotal ACC doubleheader on tap: a showdown with No. 3 Syracuse in the Carrier Dome.
The ACC is a roller coaster every week. And there are three or four teams that could legitimately win the conference tournament. That statement also applies to the Pac-12, which is usually decided by either Stanford or USC.
Not this year.
Stanford middie Jacie Lemos moves toward goal in the Cardinal’s 22-21 double overtime win over Arizona State on April 16. Photo courtesy: Maciek Gudrymowicz/ISIPhotos.com.
Arizona State and Colorado are also in the mix. All four teams have won at least seven total games and four Pac-12 contests.
And, this weekend, even California—previously 2-11—was competitive.
The Golden Bears have been on the doorstep of an upset (and their first Pac-12 win of the year) for quite some time now. They came into the week having dropped their last four games by a combined six goals. If nothing else, they produced a couple more nail-biters over the weekend.
On Friday, Cal trailed USC, 11-9, in the final minute of regulation before scoring back-to-back goals to send the game into overtime. Unfortunately for the Golden Bears, that’s when USC’s Lizzy Wagner won the period’s opening draw, and Kelsey Huff iced the matchup with a game-winning score.
Then, on Sunday, Cal held a 6-5 lead at ASU before the Sun Devils rattled off six of the game’s final seven goals to secure an 11-7 win.
Quinnlyn Mason scored a pair of goals in the Golden Bears’ 11-7 defeat at Arizona State on April 17. Photo courtesy: Rob Edwards/klcfotos.
The best, and most dramatic, game of the weekend, however, was Stanford-ASU. The teams combined for 79 shots and 43 goals in a double-overtime thriller.
The Sun Devils were searching for their first-ever win over the Cardinal. And it appeared as if they were on track to accomplish that feat. After all, ASU was up, 16-10, early in the second half. ASU’s offense was fueled by Carley Adams and Kerry Clayton, who teamed up to score 11 goals in the high-scoring affair.
Stanford came roaring back to tie the game and take the lead twice in regulation. The Cardinal nearly sealed the deal in the final minute, but a Daniella McMahon charge, and a subsequent Berkeley Bonneau save saw the game enter overtime.
Jacie Lemos scored all four of her goals after halftime, and the last one put the game away. The fifth-year senior ended the day with a strike from the eight-meter arc to propel Stanford to its best start since 2011.
The Cardinal kept the wheels turning with a 16-15 win at USC on Sunday to improve to 8-0 on the year. Stanford remains atop the conference standings, but the Pac-12 Tournament should be a spectacle.
Other Notable Storylines:
1) In an AAC heavyweight matchup, Florida asserted its dominance over Vanderbilt. The No. 10 Gators thrashed No. 20 Vanderbilt with a pair of blowout victories this weekend. Florida beat the Commodores, who entered the series on a nine-game win streak, by a combined score of 39-16. Redshirt senior attacker Brianna Harris was the hero on Friday, as she tied her career high with five goals in a 17-7 win. Shannon Kavanagh was even more impressive on Sunday. The senior midfielder tallied seven goals in a 22-9 victory that clinched at least a share of the AAC regular season title. Florida is a perfect 8-0 in conference play and has won 38 straight AAC games.
2) No. 12 Drexel’s winning ways continued with a four-goal victory against Hofstra. The Dragons added their sixth consecutive win by taking down Hofstra for the second time this season on Sunday. The performance followed a convincing 20-8 victory over No. 16 Towson earlier in the week. The 11-win Dragons trailed Hofstra, 7-5, at the break but fired back to kick off the second half with a 5-0 run. Drexel’s top-two leading scorers, Karson Harris and Colleen Grady, accounted for three of those goals. When all was said and done, the Dragons outscored the Pride, 10-4, in the back half of play to close out a 15-11 victory. Harris and Grady finished with a total of nine points.
Junior midfielder Karson Harris sprints downfield during Drexel’s 20-8 win over Towson on April 13. She had seven goals in the blowout victory. Photo courtesy: Drexel Athletics.
3) Rutgers finished the regular season by making history—again. After knocking off Johns Hopkins for the first time in program history at the start of the season, the Scarlet Knights added two more firsts this weekend: wins over Penn State and Maryland. Rutgers locked up a 17-16 victory against the No. 17 Nittany Lions on Thursday after they erased a two-goal, second-half deficit. When No. 14 Maryland came to Piscataway on Sunday, Taralyn Naslonski and Marin Hartshorn led the way with five points apiece. On the other end of the field, Rutgers’ rookie goalie, Sophia Cardello, made a career-high 10 saves. It was a big reason why the Terrapins only scored four times in the first half. A 7-0 second-half run put the contest out of reach.
Numbers to Know:
27.08 - ground balls per game recorded by Robert Morris, tops in Division I. The Colonials have scooped up 325 in 12 games this year.
152 - saves made by VCU’s Gillian Belfiore, the most in the country. The graduate goalkeeper also ranks 13th nationally in save percentage with a .492 clip.
20.64 - goals per game scored by No. 2 Northwestern’s juggernaut offense. The Wildcats have two of the country’s top-seven goal scorers—Izzy Scane and Lauren Gilbert—as well as four more players with at least 15 goals this season.
Northwestern attacker Izzy Scane and midfielder Sammy Mueller embrace amid the Wildcats’ 21-7 win over Rutgers on March 21. Photo courtesy: Northwestern Athletics.
Tewaaraton Watch:
NOTE: As the season progresses, I’ll also track draw control, ground ball, and caused turnover leaders. Because of COVID-19 and the various postponements (and game totals), I’ve also broken down scoring categories in game averages. Qualifying players for the tables below must have played at least three games this season. Stats are correct through April 20.
POINTS LEADERS
POINTS PER GAME LEADERS
GOALS LEADERS
GOALS PER GAME LEADERS
Latest Inside Lacrosse Poll
NOTE: screenshots pulled from insidelacrosse.com (not all records fully updated).
BC climbed back into the No. 4 position with back-to-back wins over Notre Dame. Losers of three straight, the Irish slipped to No. 6. Meanwhile, Stony Brook snuck up to the No. 5 spot. Drexel and Loyola swapped places at No. 11 and No. 12. Denver was the biggest winner of the week. Riding a 10-game win streak, the Pioneers went from outside the Top 20 to being slotted in as the No. 14 team in the country. There were a bunch of newcomers in the back half of the poll. Johns Hopkins was another. The Blue Jays are 3-1 in their last four. Rutgers joined in on the Big Ten fun with its wins over both Penn State and Maryland, en route to grabbing the No. 19 ranking. And Arizona State, now 8-4, popped back up in the Top 20. On the other hand, Michigan, Vanderbilt, Towson, and Elon all dropped out of the Inside Lacrosse poll.
What’s Ahead?
NOTE: all times listed in EST.
No. 4 BC @ No. 3 Syracuse, April 22, 6 p.m., and April 24, 12 p.m.
No. 1 UNC @ No. 7 Duke, April 23, 5 p.m.
Towson @ No. 11 Drexel, April 23, 4 p.m.
No. 13 Stanford @ California, April 24, 3 p.m.
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