Photo by: John Quackenbos
Seniors Hoping For "Perfect" Capstone
April 20, 2018 | Lacrosse, #ForBoston Files
The Class of 2018 is the winningest lacrosse class in program history.
It had to be that way. The drama, after all, makes it more worthwhile.
Boston College lacrosse completed a perfect regular season on Thursday with a come-from-behind, 13-12 victory over No. 16 Syracuse at the Newton Campus Fields. The win capped a 17-0 regular season for the Eagles, clinching the outright ACC Regular-Season championship.
The win did more than just put a stamp on the Eagles' regular season. It ensured BC enters the postseason as the best team in arguably the best conference, with all roads leading through the Eagles. For the defending national runners-up, it's another milestone on an already magical season and one that will place them among the NCAA elite for years to come.
For BC's seniors in particular, the regular season has been especially gratifying because it signifies a potential capstone on the goals they accepted by coming to Chestnut Hill.
"It's amazing to see where we started as freshmen and now we're at this point," senior Emma Schurr said. "We had some roller coaster rides through four years, but it's awesome to get here. I think back to when I was recruited here, and part of the reason I came here was because this program could do something special. So it's really cool to be a part of a couple of this program's big events."
Upon its departure, the Class of 2018 will go down in the annals of Boston College's greatest athletes. Carly Bell, Tess Chandler, Kaileen Hart, Caroline Peters, and Schurr, along with her twin sister Tara, collected their 59th win by beating the Orange Thursday night. Having already shattered the Classes of 2016 and 2017's record of 52 wins, it places this year's class within a game of becoming the first ever year with 60 victories.
For head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein, building the Eagles has been a career quest.
As an assistant coach, she helped recruit those two previous record-holding classes. But the Class of 2018 is the first she's recruited as a head coach. It's been a unique perch for someone who hoped to build success one layer at a time with one class building on what's been left from before them.
"(Winning) is about the work of the classes before them, too," she said. "This is (the Class of 2018's) time to shine, and they are exactly who we thought they were when we recruited them. That's what makes me the most proud; they're good people and hard workers."
Working is what this class has particularly had to do. In 2015, during its freshman campaign, the Eagles went 15-4 and entered the NCAA Tournament as a top-three team in the nation before exiting in the Second Round against Loyola. The next year, the team slipped, which is something considering it still advanced to the national tournament.
The dueling seasons set the table for the program's eventual rise over the past two years. Last year's Cinderella run to the NCAA Championship game ended with a program-record 17 wins, a total it matched this season by finishing the year without a loss - all while clinching the Boston College Athletic Department's second ACC regular-season crown since it joined the league in 2005.
"I think everyone came into this program knowing the potential," Carly Bell said. "We all wanted to be a part of something new and something different. We wanted to grow the program, and clearly we have over the last four years. So it's been incredible, and to do it with my best friends, I couldn't ask for a better experience."
This class will now hope to leave the program in a better position for future classes, all of whom carry the seniors' wishes for success. By going 17-0, BC is paying tribute to its previous classes, all of whom established the culture on which this year's team is built. It also is hoping that future years will pay tribute in their own right by continuing a new tradition of elite success.
"I give a lot of credit to our class, but we couldn't have done it without anyone before us," Bell said. "It's been an amazing experience, but we wouldn't be anywhere near (17-0) without (the past classes)."
"Every bit of success is due to our culture," Schurr said. "The culture is our foundation. It's transformed throughout the four years, but we've had some consistent principles. Everyone on our team has the person's back next to them. Nobody has to tell that to anyone because they just know. It can be hard to build that kind of chemistry, but everything is culture here and that's the reason we're successful."
That culture exhibited itself in every game this year. An undefeated regular season implies a steamroller, but BC earned its way to that record. Every opponent seemed to find another gear to throw a kitchen sink at the Eagles, all trying to become the 1 on the loss side of the Eagles' win-loss record. The Eagles' last six games of the season were all against ranked opponents, and only one of those games - the last road game at No. 15 Duke, where the ACC Tournament takes place - was a 10-goal win.
BC beat No. 5 North Carolina by six and beat both No. 7 Virginia and No. 17 Dartmouth by three. Last weekend, No. 13 Virginia Tech held the Eagles under 10 goals in a 9-7 victory before Thursday's season finale when No. 16 Syracuse led with four minutes remaining before Sam Apuzzo tied the game and then scored the game-winning goal with 1.7 seconds left.
The victories are lighting another proverbial fire under the Eagles. The margin for error in the postseason becomes razor thin. And even though it went undefeated, BC still only ranked No. 2 in the national polls. That shows that there's something still left to prove even as the players head to Durham with a large target on their collective back.
"A winning culture has been established," Walker-Weinstein said. "We're in a place where if we win by five goals and don't play well, nobody's happy. We want to play well and get better every time. Through the years, we've been able to build a true winning culture, which just raises expectations but also the overall program standard."
The ACC Championship kicks off on Thursday, April 26 when the top-seeded Eagles play either Syracuse or Louisville at 11 a.m. All games can be seen on the Raycom Sports Network's local affiliates.
Boston College lacrosse completed a perfect regular season on Thursday with a come-from-behind, 13-12 victory over No. 16 Syracuse at the Newton Campus Fields. The win capped a 17-0 regular season for the Eagles, clinching the outright ACC Regular-Season championship.
The win did more than just put a stamp on the Eagles' regular season. It ensured BC enters the postseason as the best team in arguably the best conference, with all roads leading through the Eagles. For the defending national runners-up, it's another milestone on an already magical season and one that will place them among the NCAA elite for years to come.
For BC's seniors in particular, the regular season has been especially gratifying because it signifies a potential capstone on the goals they accepted by coming to Chestnut Hill.
"It's amazing to see where we started as freshmen and now we're at this point," senior Emma Schurr said. "We had some roller coaster rides through four years, but it's awesome to get here. I think back to when I was recruited here, and part of the reason I came here was because this program could do something special. So it's really cool to be a part of a couple of this program's big events."
Upon its departure, the Class of 2018 will go down in the annals of Boston College's greatest athletes. Carly Bell, Tess Chandler, Kaileen Hart, Caroline Peters, and Schurr, along with her twin sister Tara, collected their 59th win by beating the Orange Thursday night. Having already shattered the Classes of 2016 and 2017's record of 52 wins, it places this year's class within a game of becoming the first ever year with 60 victories.
For head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein, building the Eagles has been a career quest.
As an assistant coach, she helped recruit those two previous record-holding classes. But the Class of 2018 is the first she's recruited as a head coach. It's been a unique perch for someone who hoped to build success one layer at a time with one class building on what's been left from before them.
"(Winning) is about the work of the classes before them, too," she said. "This is (the Class of 2018's) time to shine, and they are exactly who we thought they were when we recruited them. That's what makes me the most proud; they're good people and hard workers."
Working is what this class has particularly had to do. In 2015, during its freshman campaign, the Eagles went 15-4 and entered the NCAA Tournament as a top-three team in the nation before exiting in the Second Round against Loyola. The next year, the team slipped, which is something considering it still advanced to the national tournament.
The dueling seasons set the table for the program's eventual rise over the past two years. Last year's Cinderella run to the NCAA Championship game ended with a program-record 17 wins, a total it matched this season by finishing the year without a loss - all while clinching the Boston College Athletic Department's second ACC regular-season crown since it joined the league in 2005.
"I think everyone came into this program knowing the potential," Carly Bell said. "We all wanted to be a part of something new and something different. We wanted to grow the program, and clearly we have over the last four years. So it's been incredible, and to do it with my best friends, I couldn't ask for a better experience."
This class will now hope to leave the program in a better position for future classes, all of whom carry the seniors' wishes for success. By going 17-0, BC is paying tribute to its previous classes, all of whom established the culture on which this year's team is built. It also is hoping that future years will pay tribute in their own right by continuing a new tradition of elite success.
"I give a lot of credit to our class, but we couldn't have done it without anyone before us," Bell said. "It's been an amazing experience, but we wouldn't be anywhere near (17-0) without (the past classes)."
"Every bit of success is due to our culture," Schurr said. "The culture is our foundation. It's transformed throughout the four years, but we've had some consistent principles. Everyone on our team has the person's back next to them. Nobody has to tell that to anyone because they just know. It can be hard to build that kind of chemistry, but everything is culture here and that's the reason we're successful."
That culture exhibited itself in every game this year. An undefeated regular season implies a steamroller, but BC earned its way to that record. Every opponent seemed to find another gear to throw a kitchen sink at the Eagles, all trying to become the 1 on the loss side of the Eagles' win-loss record. The Eagles' last six games of the season were all against ranked opponents, and only one of those games - the last road game at No. 15 Duke, where the ACC Tournament takes place - was a 10-goal win.
BC beat No. 5 North Carolina by six and beat both No. 7 Virginia and No. 17 Dartmouth by three. Last weekend, No. 13 Virginia Tech held the Eagles under 10 goals in a 9-7 victory before Thursday's season finale when No. 16 Syracuse led with four minutes remaining before Sam Apuzzo tied the game and then scored the game-winning goal with 1.7 seconds left.
The victories are lighting another proverbial fire under the Eagles. The margin for error in the postseason becomes razor thin. And even though it went undefeated, BC still only ranked No. 2 in the national polls. That shows that there's something still left to prove even as the players head to Durham with a large target on their collective back.
"A winning culture has been established," Walker-Weinstein said. "We're in a place where if we win by five goals and don't play well, nobody's happy. We want to play well and get better every time. Through the years, we've been able to build a true winning culture, which just raises expectations but also the overall program standard."
The ACC Championship kicks off on Thursday, April 26 when the top-seeded Eagles play either Syracuse or Louisville at 11 a.m. All games can be seen on the Raycom Sports Network's local affiliates.
Players Mentioned
A
/ Lacrosse
D
/ Lacrosse
A
/ Lacrosse
A
/ Lacrosse
M
/ Lacrosse
A
/ LacrossePatrick and Ella Might Run the Marathon? | The Podcast For Boston: BC Cross Country/Track and Field
Wednesday, September 17
Football: Owen McGowan Postgame Press Conference (Sept. 14, 2025)
Sunday, September 14
Football: Reed Harris Postgame Media (Sept. 14, 2025)
Sunday, September 14
Football Availability - Coach O'Brien Media Availability
Sunday, September 14
