Big Dreams Fall Short, But BC Isn't Going Anywhere

It was almost poetic that Boston College's consecutive runs to the NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship ended in the place where it began. For the past seven tournaments, the Eagles enhanced their program with national championships and annual trips to the season's final game by accomplishing feats unattained since Northwestern and Maryland rewrote the sport's record book. They'd embellished the periphery by converting role players into certified superstars capable of winning awards at the highest and most elite levels, and the culture that wanted to win converted into the university's tentpole championship franchise along the way.

All streaks, even the most unbreakable accomplishments, end in some capacity, so maybe the sports gods doled some justice to the team that reached its peak at the end of the third quarter of Friday's national semifinal game against Northwestern. The Eagles trailed after one quarter because old habits resurfaced, but the pelting rains and lingering nor'easter slogged the game into one of those old school battles between the entrenched rivals seeded No. 2 and No. 3 in the nation.

BC touted its trademark toughness in building a five-goal lead through a quarter-based shutout in that third, and the thought of dancing with top-ranked North Carolina for a rubber match seeped through the neon-clad fans gathered behind the Eagles. In that moment, maybe the guard slipped ever so slightly, or maybe the poetry and symmetry finally caught up to the decade-long Cinderella story.

Whatever existed in either team's head couldn't stop the clock from striking midnight, and the Wildcats turned in their own shutout period. For one night, destiny wasn't with the Eagles, and in the end, the defending national champions were left to exit the stadium where it all began with a 12-11 defeat that prevented them from advancing to their eighth straight NCAA final round.

"I told the girls in the room how proud I was of them," said head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein. "You wouldn't know it from the outside, but the team had come a really long way. I'm proud of the standard that they held, the leaders that they became, and they are leaving BC lacrosse in a great place for us to be proud of. Not the ending we wanted, but I'm so very proud of our team, all of the leaders, and the freshmen who got experience on such a big stage. Hopefully, we can take that into next year."

Northwestern hadn't endured a scoreless quarter since the Wildcats lost to North Carolina in late March, so being held off the board while BC built an 11-6 lead painted the appearance of impending defeat against a team equally dominant over the entire season. The Wildcats needed to win the third quarter to bridge their one-goal Big Ten tournament wins over Johns Hopkins and Maryland, and the 7-1 edge in the third dealt a kill-shot to Michigan's upset bid in the NCAA Tournament.

BC was a team capable of matching their mid-game dominance, but being held off the scoreboard entirely erased and buried the draw control issues that built Northwestern's 3-0 lead in the first period. Those leaks were long gone, at least, after Mckenna Davis and Rachel Clark teamed up for three goals over the last six minutes.

Clark's two goals over a 60-minute span were particularly damaging for the Wildcat effort. The draw circle tilted towards Northwestern, but BC countered their losses by aggressively targeting ground balls and turnovers until it built a lead with seven minutes remaining in the quarter. The third quarter then pressed the Wildcats even further against the wall by building the 11-6 lead into the fourth.

"We talked about loving the hard fight," admitted Wildcat attacker Madison Taylor, "and we knew this wasn't going to be an easy game. When we went down [ahead of] the fourth, we were down by a lot [but] said that it was right where we wanted to be. We never stopped believing in each other and what this team could do, [so] we just fought until the very end.

"We usually come into the huddle and take a long deep breath," she later said. "[We] look at each other and know when we're getting too high, when we're getting too low. We sense it, and we all come together to take a deep breath, in and out, at the same time."

That recentering, however it happened, broke the drought and killed BC's inherent momentum with a shocking immediacy that produced exactly one draw control victory in the fourth quarter. The shots previously indicative of a heeling Northwestern team turned into a 12-4 gallery on goalkeeper Shea Dolce, and a plus-5 ground ball differential ended with the Wildcats gaining a 7-3 advantage over the final 15 minutes.

"We knew that Northwestern was going to fight," said Walker-Weinstein. "Kelly [Amonte Hiller] is the best out there, and we just had to adjust minute-by-minute. I think we did. We did a great job adjusting. We just didn't make enough plays. Unfortunately, we couldn't slow that momentum, but they're a tough team to stop. I think we just needed to disrupt a little bit of momentum at the beginning of the fourth quarter, and we didn't do that enough."

No matter how it happened, the 60-minute display between the two teams illustrated the growth of their rivalry over the past couple of years. It avenged, to a degree, BC's rally from a 6-0 deficit in last year's national championship game and sent Northwestern into its 11th appearance in the final. Amonte Hiller gained access to her 11th possible national championship as a player or coach, and it returned the Wildcats to their third straight title game in their fifth consecutive Final Four – numbers that rivaled the 10 straight Final Four appearances during the American Lacrosse Conference era of the 2000s.

Boston College hadn't even ascended to a single national tournament appearance when that run began, but the Eagles ultimately built a legacy by attending the last seven Final Four championship games. Their eighth straight Final Four is long removed from days of an independent team fighting through the Northeast, and the number of NCAA Tournament wins over the past eight brackets rivals the number of overall wins from the program's five-year Big East history. The Eagles won more games in this year's tournament than they won in three of their first four years of conference play within the ACC, and their seven straight national championships draw a stark reminder of the 7-28 conference record that preceded Walker's hire in 2013.

"Every girl on this team fought and scrapped every day, day-in and day-out," said an emotional Shea Baker. "I wish we could have closed the deal for our seniors, but being under these lights in front of our families with such unbelievable girls on our sideline is something to be grateful for and proud of. It's not the outcome we wanted, but I'm proud of everybody on this team."

"My sister being a freshman, it was a really big year for me," admitted Davis. "All those freshmen are like my little sisters. I'm hoping this experience gave them something to learn from, and it was a win that I couldn't give them. It was everything I wanted for my sister and the freshmen because I love them and they work so hard. I'm proud of them for making it here, and I'm hoping they will learn from it.

"They will be here next year, I hope."

Big Dreams Fall Short, But BC Isn't Going Anywhere

Players Mentioned

Shea Baker

Rachel Clark

Mckenna Davis

Shea Dolce

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