W2WF: NCAA First Round vs. Northwestern

The NCAA Tournament is nothing new to Boston College field hockey. The program has been there before, and the current seniors conceivably remember heading to Syracuse as part of a four-team grouping in 2016. That was the team's fourth consecutive appearance, a run that included a victory over Albany in 2015.

Head coach Kelly Doton remembers that run as an assistant in the first two seasons before ascending to the team's helm. She understands how the national tournament differs from any regular season setting, both physically and emotionally, and she can clearly recall the experience from even her own playing days as a member of Wake Forest's consecutive national runners up.

"It's going to be tough," Doton said. "We know it. You don't get to this point and think that it won't be tough. It's a lot of the same (as regular season games), but it might feel a little bit different at the venue. We just saw it with the way that the ACC did (Newton Campus for the ACC Championship). All of our BC branding was eliminated in favor of ACC banners. So I think the first time you see that NCAA (bunting) at the venue, it triggers something."

It's a case where BC will accept the emotional roller coaster of playing in a high-stress setting, but if it ultimately deals with the ups and downs, it won't be from the venue or the opponent. The bracket is being held at Louisville, a field the Eagles understand from regular games against the Cardinals, and the opening game is against Northwestern, a team's played annually as part of a trek through the Big Ten.

"To go to a site and know that you've played two of the three teams creates a familiarity that's comforting," Doton said. "They know a bit about each team. They've seen Louisville a little bit more than Northwestern."

"We love Louisville's field," she continued. "It plays similar to the way ours plays. I think we're excited to play Northwestern again. It's not necessarily a 'revenge' game, but it's because we're a different team than we were back then. I'm excited to play (the Wildcats) again, but we know it's going to be tough, regardless of who we play."

Here's what to expect as the Eagles take to the turf and start their ride as national championship hopefuls:

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Weekly Storylines

The Watchers on the Wall

There was a time in late September when this bracket likely would have been played at Northwestern's Lakeside Field. The No. 7 Wildcats crushed Michigan State and beat Michigan in a shootout to improve their record to 10-2, earning them swagger before their game against No. 4 Maryland. In that game, Northwestern surrendered an early goal but rallied to tie the Terrapins late, but a goal in the second overtime period triggered the team's first defeat in eight games.

It triggered a little bit of a tailspin, and the Wildcats flailed through losses to both Maine and Penn State. They rebounded against Rutgers and Kent State, but two losses to Iowa bookended the wins in the regular season finale and the Big Ten Tournament opener. It was enough to earn the team an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, and despite the midseason funk, it remains a difficult sleeper option to advance to the national semifinal.

"They started out the season well but had a couple of hiccups along the way," Doton said. "I think that (head coach Tracey Fuchs) does a great job coaching. They run a system that works really well."

The Wildcats still finished the season as a potent, all-around team capable of stopping teams just as easily as scoring goals. They averaged over three goals per game with a shot percentage up over 20%. Over two-thirds of their shots wound up on goal, a dominant number compared to what the defense allowed.

They discovered an incredible talent in Bente Baekers, a Dutch redshirt first-year who finished the season with 27 goals. Fellow countrywoman Saar de Breij provides a secondary option, scoring nine goals on over 56% shooting, and Kirsten Mansfield is the perfect distributor with 17 assists and 25 points. They will go head-to-head with a defensive unit that barely allowed 100 shots on goal this season, a number that enabled nine shutouts, including eight by goalkeeper Sarah Dwyer.

"They have a couple of really good players," Doton said. "They have natural goal scorers, especially on corners, so we have to limit their chances."

Stuck in the middle with you

BC's staple defense has been a hallmark to creating offense this season, a quality largely attributed to its ability to move through the midfield. That battle will take center stage on Friday because Northwestern is equally strong through the center of the turf.

"Their midfield is really, really good," Doton said. "They are a little bit like us. They just work really hard, so I think it's going to be a great matchup for us."

The Eagle attack had no problem generating offense against the Wildcats in their first meeting, especially early. It held a 9-1 shot advantage through the first two periods and finished by doubling up Northwestern's attack in both shots and shots and goal. It forced the team to come up with seven saves, five of which came from goalkeeper Florien Marcussen.

Knowing Marcussen is capable of stealing a game requires the midfield to maintain possession to employ Murphy's Law. The junior was forced to make seven saves in the loss to Penn State, two games after she made nine saves against Maryland. She hasn't had to make less than three saves since the regular season game against Iowa. Her talent is undisputed, but at the same time, more shots yield more opportunities for goals.

Sweeeeeeeeeet emoooooooooooo-shuuuuuuuun.

This week provided a flood of emotions capable of draining athletes and coaches before the first whistle ever happens on Friday. It began with the hopeful optimism of Sunday's pregame, then exploded into a wild atmosphere on Newton Campus. The bitter disappointment of losing to North Carolina tumbled the excitement back to ground level, and the pieces hadn't even picked up by the time the team watched its NCAA selection.

"It was still very raw at the selection show," Doton said through a voice still hoarse from the championship game. "But I know they're going to be just fine. They're competitive and they'll get that fire back. They'll lose that emotional feeling of losing the ACC Championship and will rebound knowing it's a brand new season (in the NCAA Tournament). I know they'll be just fine."

Everything about Friday points towards emotional certainty for BC. The Louisville-Michigan game is played first to maximize home field rest for the top seed (assuming it advances), meaning the second game doesn't play with any kind of uncertainty hanging over it. It's wonderfully simple because two teams battle out for the advance to play on Sunday - nothing more and nothing less.

"They're just playing a game on Friday," Doton said. "It eliminates some of the pressure. We know that if we lose, we're done, but we're excited to be playing, beyond even this weekend and into the following week."

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Where in the World is Boston College Field Hockey?

(sung to the tune of "Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego" for those of us who remember the Saturday morning manhunt)

This weekend's series is being played at Louisville's on-campus Trager Stadium, a 2,500-seat complex dedicated to the Cardinals' field hockey program. It's an absolutely gorgeous facility, having hosted a national championship weekend on nine different occasions. In 2017, it crowned national champions in all three NCAA divisions, repeating as the Division I facility last season.

The Louisville facility is pristinely tailored for field hockey with an AstroTurf 12 playing surface - the same brand BC uses back home in Newton.

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Meteorology 101

Looking at weather reports is something that's exhausting and confusing. That Siberian arctic blast was fun this week, and it lowered temperatures in Massachusetts to the point where daytime highs set records for being so low (that makes total sense, doesn't it?). The entire country endured its first deep chill, and it seemed like nowhere was truly immune from breaking out thick jackets.

The good news is that the cold weather should be gone by the weekend, replaced by more seasonable warms. I'm using that term loosely, though, because temperatures in Louisville this weekend will still be pretty cold for outdoor activities, especially in the mid-afternoon. Friday's midday high will only reach into the 40s, and things will start freezing by the time the BC-Northwestern game enters its latter stages.

The Eagles already proved they could handle the deep freeze in their ACC Championship win over Virginia, but the truth is that Northwestern isn't exactly a warm-weather team. The Wildcats home stadium is right on Lake Michigan, which means it offers scenic, sweeping views south to the Chicago skyline but probably endures more deep freeze than the salt water ocean climate.

Either way, I'm a cold weather person, so I'll be happy with whatever is offered. My wife, on the other hand, is already yelling about moving to the Equator.

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Scoreboard Watching

The NCAA Field Hockey Championship underwent a number of facelifts over the last decade after its 16-team format defined the beginning of the century. It expanded to 19 teams in 2013 and played two years with three "opening round" play-in games before continuing forward with a field of 16. It shifted back to an 18-team field in 2015, where the two opening round winners advance to play the top two national seeds.

Stanford and Fairfield won this year's opening games, creating an exciting field of 16 that's one of the most competitive in recent memory. North Carolina is the undefeated national champion and No. 1 overall seed, and the Tar Heels haven't lost since a national semifinal defeat in 2017 to UConn, which summarily won the trophy. The Huskies were eliminated last year by Maryland in the Quarterfinal round but are the No. 2 seed this year, playing the in-state rival Stags.

UConn is the only non-ACC team to host a weekend bracket as one of the four national seeds, though at least one conference team is at each site. Duke plays Iowa in the second game in Chapel Hill, and BC is part of the Louisville bracket hosted by the No. 4 Cardinals. No. 3 Virginia is the lone representative in its bracket, and Syracuse is traveling east to play Princeton in UConn's grouping.

The single-elimination winners advance to play on Sunday, at which point the field will whittle down to the final four. The national semifinal game is next weekend at Kentner Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the home stadium of Wake Forest.

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Pregame Quote and Prediction

The true enemy won't wait out the storm. He brings the storm. -Jon Snow, "Game of Thrones"

College sports' national tournaments are more steeped in university pride than any other sporting event I watch. Something about watching a team don your school fills your heart with love, determination, intensity and excitement. I still remember the feeling of watching my alma mater as an alumnus, how a Division III jersey got me more pumped up than anything imaginable.

I feel that for this field hockey team. It represents more than just its own interest and desire. It represents all of us who work, wear and live the Eagles' maroon and gold. I want this team to win because it feels like I'm going to be on that field with the players, cheering them on from afar in such a way that they might actually hear me.

That type of determination is what defines this field hockey team. It could have rolled over after the weekend sweep by Louisville and Saint Joseph's, and the Northwestern loss would have been a footnote to an inconsistent season. Instead, the team steadied itself and determined to never lose again. Now it's in the national tournament with a chance to even a head-to-head matchup against one of those early-season losses.

BC is a very different team from the Northwestern game earlier this season. There's an unspoken spark of competitiveness and maturity within a young roster. This team is ultra-talented and hungry. It's impossible to know if it's enough to win a one-game series until the final whistle, but it sure does mean this run is going to be exciting.

Players Mentioned

Sarah Dwyer

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