Eagles Take on Fourth Top-10 Conference Opponent

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – The ninth-ranked Boston College field hockey team returns after a four-game road swing to host No. 2 Duke on Friday, Sept. 29 at 4 p.m. at the Newton Campus Field Hockey Complex. The Eagles (7-3, 0-3 ACC) is looking for their first conference victory of the 2017 season.

The Blue Devils (7-1, 1-1 ACC) will be the fourth top-10 ACC opponent BC has faced this year after falling to No. 5 Syracuse, No. 7 North Carolina in overtime and No. 4 Virginia. The Eagles have defeated four ranked opponents out of conference action.

Duke leads the all-time series, 11-7 and has won seven of the nine meetings on BC's home turf. The Blue Devils have won the last four meetings. BC earned a 2-1 victory in 2012 in Durham, N.C. The Devils have won their last four games, including a 5-0 shutout of Louisville in their last ACC contest. Their lone loss came at Virginia on Sept. 8.

The Eagles round out the weekend with a road contest in Durham, N.H., at New Hampshire. BC leads the all-time series, 22-7-1, winning the last seven meetings and nine of the last 10. BC is 8-6-1 in New Hampshire. The Wildcats (3-5) are coming off two losses to top-20 teams: a 3-2, overtime loss to No. 12 Stanford and a 3-0 shutout at the hands of No. 17 Harvard.

The Eagles freshman class has scored 14 of the team's 26 goals and amassed 32 of the team's 69 total points. Freshman Jaime Natale leads the way with four goals while classmate Caroline McGovern is the only BC player to have two gamewinners. Meanwhile, the scoring has been spread out among 12 different Eagles through the first half of the season. After Natale's four goals, four different Eagles have three each. Two BC players have logged three assists each - senior Alesandra Miller and junior Ymke Rose Gote. In all, 14 of the Eagles' 21 who have logged minutes have recorded at least one point.

Four of the Eagles' 10 games have gone to extra time with BC winning three of them. The Eagles are 3-0 in double overtime games in 2017 and lost one bid in overtime. After a 2-1, double OT win against Albany in New York, BC took Northwestern to double overtime in Lancaster, Pa., pulling out a 3-2 victory. BC forced overtime against the Tar Heels in North Carolina with the equalizing goal in the 61st minute, but could not pull out the extra-time victory. They combined with Pacific to score a season-high nine goals in a 5-4, double overtime win, rallying from down one three times to win on senior Brooke Matherson's first career game-winning goal.

Eagles Take on Fourth Top-10 Conference Opponent

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Players Mentioned

Ymke Rose Gote

Brooke Matherson

Caroline McGovern

Alesandra Miller

Jaime Natale