Four Eagles Garner ACC Women's Lacrosse Season Awards
May 03, 2023 | Lacrosse
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Four Eagles for Boston College lacrosse garnered ACC Women's Lacrosse Regular Season awards, as announced by the league on Wednesday. Head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein was named Coach of the Year, Belle Smith earned Midfielder of the Year honors, Sydney Scales was named Defender of the Year and Shea Dolce was named Freshman of the Year.Â
Acacia Walker-Weinstein was named ACC Coach of the Year for the second time in her career. The Eagles are riding high after capturing their first-ever ACC title following an 11-9 win over North Carolina on Sunday. BC is on a 10-game win streak and also captured a share of the ACC regular season championship following a 17-16 road win over then-No. 1 Syracuse on the road.Â
Walker-Weinstein is 170-51 in 11 seasons with the Eagles, while she has 52 percent of the program's victories. Boston College has won three ACC regular-season trophies, a national championship and now a tournament title since 2018.Â
Smith is the first midfielder since Dempsey Arsenault in 2019 to be named the midfielder of the year. The junior is putting together another stellar season, where she is third on the team in goals (44), second in assists (27), third in points (71), third in caused turnovers (14), second in ground balls (29) and fourth in draw controls.Â
Smith is the only player in the nation with at least 40 goals, 25 assists, 25 ground balls, 25 draw controls and 10 caused turnovers.Â
The Westhampton, N.Y. native has at least three points in 14 games this season, highlighted by a season-best seven points against Syracuse. She delivered the game-winning goal against North Carolina on Sunday. Smith was named All-ACC First Team last week and is a Top-25 Tewaaraton finalist.Â
Scales is the first Eagle since 2018 (Elizabeth Miller) to win defender of the year. She is first on the team with 32 caused turnovers and 37 ground balls, which are both good for fourth in the ACC. She is the only player in the ACC to lead her team in both categories and the only player with at least 30 caused turnovers and ground balls.Â
Scales has played a pivotal role in BC's successful season. The Eagles held all three opponents in the ACC under 10 goals, while holding Notre Dame to a season low in goals and holding UNC scoreless over the final 23 minutes to secure the title. Scales was named All-ACC First Team and to the all-tournament team.Â
Dolce is the first freshman since Covie Stanwick in 2012 to be named freshman of the year. She is 12-2 between the posts, boasting a 8.64 goals against average and .470 save percentage.Â
Dolce leads the country among freshmen in both goals against average and save percentage. She is also third and fourth, respectively, in both categories. She was the only freshmen in the conference to be named ACC Player of the Week (co overall) at least twice and the only freshman to win IWLCA Player of the Week. She was named the ACC Tournament MVP after making 19 saves in the three wins.Â
The Eagles will await their seeding and opponent during the NCAA Tournament Selection Show on Sunday at 9 p.m. on ESPNU.Â
