Oops They Did It Again!

Two years ago, Boston College's Lauren Daly produced magical highlights as part of the Eagles' run to the NCAA Tournament's final game. She was brilliant in the clutch and stonewalled opponents, and her performance against North Carolina in the national semifinal game was a big reason why Sam Apuzzo was able to score a game-winning, double-overtime goal to eliminate the Tar Heels. Daly was in the zone, and her antics amounted to one of an unreplicable moment in time as part of BC's three consecutive runs to the championship game.

On Friday, it was deja vu all over again for the Tar Heels.

Rachel Hall matched her season-high for saves with 11 and Jenn Medjid scored four goals as BC did it again to UNC with an 11-10 victory that sent the Eagles to the national championship game for the fourth consecutive tournament. It ended the Tar Heels' magical, No. 1-ranked season with their first loss of the year and established an all-Northeast, all-ACC matchup for the crown after Syracuse defeated Northwestern in the other semifinal.

"This feels good," head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein said. "(Beating UNC) is not an easy thing to do...it feels really good because of the amount of talent they have on their team. We really didn't even play a great game, a complete game, so we're going to look back to make some adjustments and fix some of those things heading into Sunday."

The undefeated, undaunted Tar Heels were predictably a brutal matchup for the Eagles after they won the first matchup of the year, 21-9, and UNC didn't waste any time establishing its intentions. BC grabbed the initial goal of the game, but three unanswered strikes put the Tar Heels on top by a 3-1 margin after the first 10 minutes. Jamie Ortega was her usual self with a goal and two assists, and both Caitlyn Wurtzburger and Katie Hoeg offered the anticipated complements to the third-leading goal scorer in the nation.

BC responded to tie on Charlotte North's 95th goal of the season when the attacker blew into UNC's area and hustled a low shot past stalwart goalkeeper Taylor Moreno. It broke Sam Apuzzo's single-season scoring record and opened the floodgates on the Tar Heels, who surrendered two additional goals to Jenn Medjid.

Medjid had scored the goal before North's record-breaking attempt to push her own numbers closer to 60 goals, and her two assaults on Moreno ordered up a hat trick for her in the first half. UNC kept things close with a Kerrigan Miller goal, but the runaway train caused by both Courtney and Cassidy Weeks hit Moreno as late as 12 seconds remaining in the half to give BC an 8-5 lead into halftime.

"UNC has a really great defense," Medjid said, "but I think we had a really great game plan. We know they're great one-to-one defenders, and they don't tend to slide, so I think we just focused on isolating (to) just stick to our game plan. We executed really well."

Like any great heavyweight contender, UNC responded with the air of a team bidding for a championship. It regrouped at the halftime break from BC's initial onslaught to preserve its defense, and the Eagles only scored three goals in the entire second half. The Tar Heel attack, meanwhile, found a fifth gear in order to throw everything at Hall, who absorbed the heavy body blows in order to deliver her own shots back to UNC's square jaw.

She elevated with the defensive unit at the biggest possible moments. She stoned Scottie Rose Growney on a free position early in the second half and denied Elizabeth Hillman on a reverse stick free position with under five minutes left in the game.

Ortega, meanwhile, struggled to gain any traction after scoring her early goal. The three-time All-America and defending Co-National Player of the Year entered the game with at least three goals in her five games and had only been held to one goal on one occasion, but she was subdued in the second half by a defense that included freshman Sydney Scales and sophomore Hollie Scheicher.

"We knew we had to hold them to 10 to win," Walker-Weinstein said. "We knew we needed to get over 11 goals in terms of our offense. There were a lot of number games we were playing with things they had been showing all year, in terms of how many goals they've allowed, how many goals they're scoring. It allowed us to create certain targets for each end of the field.

"It's a very young group," she continued. "Rachel has never been in this moment. Hollie has never been in this moment. Sydney has never been in this moment. They're really young girls. There are a lot of freshmen and sophomores, but they've just been so coachable."

It enabled the Eagles to withstand the pressure and hold onto a one-goal win after Ally Mastroianni scored one final two-down goal with one second left on the clock, and it ended the national championship bid of UNC's undefeated titan. Like two years ago when the Tar Heels hoisted a trophy on the Alumni Stadium turf, they now watch the Eagles advance to the final tournament game at their expense. They are left empty-handed at the end of a magical season, a fact that wasn't lost in the latest chapter of the budding rivalry.

"It's become a big rivalry, I think, between our two teams," Walker-Weinstein said, "which is something that I think we'll always cherish because Carolina has such a rich tradition. But I think every year we're building on the tradition that we have, and (Friday) was an incredible thing to be able to beat them with the team that they have. I'm really proud of them. We have one more game to go, though, so we've got a lot to focus on. We've got to buckle down."

Boston College will play in its fourth consecutive national championship game on Sunday when it takes on the Syracuse Orange at 12 p.m. The game can be seen on national television on ESPNU with streaming available through the ESPN online platform.

Players Mentioned

Rachel Hall

Jenn Medjid

Charlotte North

Sydney Scales

Cassidy Weeks

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