Eagles Eye Return to NCAA Tournament in 2016

Eagles Eye Return to NCAA Tournament in 2016

February 04, 2016 | Lacrosse

Lacrosse Season Preview

Boston College Women's Lacrosse 2016 Preview

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - The BC Eagles kick off their 25th season as a varsity program on February 14 when they travel down the road for a meeting with longtime rival, Boston University, as the maroon and gold seek their fourth straight NCAA tournament appearance and their fifth in six years during their 2016 campaign.

They will do so tied for fifth with Virginia in the preseason ACC Predicted Order of Finish, as voted on by the eight coaches in the conference. The Eagles and Cavaliers each received 30 points in the poll. The entire order can be seen in the conference release.

When the Eagles begin their season on the second Sunday of February, they will embark on a 17-game season that includes 10 games on the road, nine opponents who qualified for the tournament last season and only three ACC games on their home turf at the Newton Campus facility.

Acacia Walker, who returns to lead the squad for her fourth season behind the Eagles bench, said of the team's schedule, "We love it. That's why these kids come to BC. We are playing the best of New England on our Wednesday middle of the week type games against the likes of Dartmouth, Harvard and BU. Being in the ACC and having such close rivalries every Saturday just makes it a very special, unique situation for all the girls who come here. We love it. We want to play against the best, every single day."

Walker, who will be joined by 2015 Maryland graduate and a two-time National Champion Brooke Griffin in addition to returning coach Jennifer Kent, have their hands full early as three of their first five games are against 2015 NCAA qualifying teams.

The coaching staff, alongside the newly elected captains of Sarah Mannelly, Caroline Margolis and Tess Chandler, will look to build on an offense that averaged more than 14 goals per game last season. The trio was responsible for 42 percent of the Eagles goals last season. The fourth captain, senior Molly Erdle, will anchor a defense that held opponents to less than 10 goals in nine of its games last season - in an offense driven conference nonetheless.

Mannelly, the first Tewaaraton award finalist in program history and a 2016 Inside Lacrosse preseason first team All-American, will look to leave her mark in the BC record book in her final season at The Heights. With 181 career points and 135 goals, the New Canaan, Conn. native looks to continue to climb up the ranks and leave her mark on the program. She was most recently named to the 2016 All-ACC Preseason team.

Seeking to join the ascension in the program's history books will be fellow midfielder Caroline Margolis, an Inside Lacrosse preseason second-team All-American selection who tallied 65 points last season on 37 goals and 28 assists. She was a member of the ACC Academic Team and the IWLCA All-Northeast Regional second team. She is 11 points shy of becoming the 20th member of the BC 100-point club and 12 assists short of becoming only the sixth Eagle to tally 50 assists in her career.

While the Eagles are focused on this upcoming season, they will have to overcome the loss of two of their most dominant performers over the past four years. All-time BC point leader Covie Stanwick and Mikaela Rix, who is fourth on that respective list, both ended their very successful collegiate careers at The Heights after graduating at the conclusion of last season.

"I don't think you can ever replace two players of that caliber," said Walker. "We, however, look at our weapons every year a lot differently. We don't ever just try to fill the holes. This fall, when we looked at our team, we figured out where our strengths were and where our weapons were and adjusted, made a new offense, a new defense, and a new midfield. We will allow new people to step up in new roles."

New people in new roles will be key for the Eagles success in 2016. The team lost four starters from last year's squad. They return 13 players from last year who played in at least 75 percent of the season's games and six who started every game last season. 10 freshmen will also see their first action at the collegiate level – eight midfielders, one defender and one goal keeper. Of the newcomers, Walker says she expects to see an immediate impact from midfielder Sam Apuzzo and defender Elizabeth Miller. With the freshmen class, which has accumulated a combined 15 high school All-American accolades, competition will be fierce.

Furthermore, the Eagles will once again get an added offensive threat nearing the midseason point when Kenzie Kent trades in her skates for cleats sometime between mid-march and early April following the conclusion of the BC women's hockey season, where she plays forward for the nation's top-ranked squad. On the lacrosse field, she accounted for 22 goals in the final eight games of the 2015 season and was the named to IWLCA All-Rookie team, the first ever Boston College Eagle to earn that feat.

While they have their eyes set on winning the ACC Championship, held on Virginia Tech's campus April 28-May 1, the Eagles are focused on their first game at BU on February 14 at 1 p.m.

The team will host their first of seven games on their home turf, the Newton Campus Lacrosse Field, on March 2 against Massachusetts. That bout begins at 3 p.m.

Throughout the season, make sure to stay up to date with all the Boston College lacrosse news by searching the hashtag #BCEagles and following @BCWlax on Twitter and Instagram

BY THE NUMBERS

ATTACK
NAME	YEAR	2015 GAMES PLAYED	2015 GOALS	2015 ASSISTS	2015 POINTS
Tess Chandler	JR	19	28	8	36
Kate Weeks	JR	18	8	2	10
Kate Rich	SR	17	6	3	9
Laura Frankenfield	JR	16	6	0	6
Kayla O'Connor	JR	9	5	1	6
Kara Magley	SR	17	5	0	5
Colby Goettelman	SO	3	0	0	0

MIDFIELD
NAME	YEAR	2015 GAMES PLAYED	2015 GOALS	2015 ASSISTS	2015 POINTS
Sarah Mannelly	SR	19	50	17	67
Caroline Margolis	SR	19	37	28	65
Kenzie Kent	SO	8	22	3	25
Mary O'Neill	JR	19	7	6	13
Emma Schurr	SO	18	4	3	7
Kaileen Hart	SO	16	2	1	3
Tara Schurr	SO	4	1	1	2
Sam Apuzzo	FR	0	0	0	0
Dempsey Arsenault	FR	0	0	0	0
Hannah Hyatt	FR	0	0	0	0
Sam Paoletti	FR	0	0	0	0
Brooke Troy	FR	0	0	0	0
Taylor Walker	FR	0	0	0	0
Christina Walsh	FR	0	0	0	0
Caroline Zaffino	FR	0	0	0	0

DEFENSE
NAME	YEAR	2015 GAMES PLAYED	2015 GB	2015 DC	2015 CT
Molly Erdle	SR	19	33	16	17
Carly Bell	SO	15	8	6	4
Emily Zlevor	SR	7	2	1	2
Mary Kensinger	SO	12	2	4	0
Elizabeth Miller	FR	0	0	0	0

GB - Ground ball DC- Draw controls CT - Caused turnovers

GOALKEEPERS
NAME	YEAR	2015 GAMES PLAYED	2015 MINUTES	2015 SAVES	2015 RECORD
Zoe Ochoa	JR	19	1105:41	109	15-4-0
Lindsey Reder	JR	3	15:21	4	0-0-0
Lauren Daly	FR	0	0	0	0-0-0