Explosive Eagles Coast by Regional Foes UMass, BU
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)Publisher
The last two years have been about putting 2020 in the rear view mirror.
Boston College lacrosse has done that better than most.
The Eagles were 4-3 before COVID-19 shut down the season and, more importantly, the world. BC lost its 2020 season opener to UMass, 15-11—a defeat that snapped a 36-game regular season win streak, which spanned 1,036 days.
Since, Acacia Walker-Weinstein’s team has won its first-ever national championship, featured the Tewaaraton Award winner and entered this season as the No. 1 team in the nation.
The exclamation point on that turnaround was top-ranked BC’s 22-5 drubbing of then-No. 24 UMass on Wednesday. And then, three days later, the Eagles continued their regional dominance with a 22-6 victory over Boston University.
Charlotte North broke the ACC record for career goals against BU, eclipsing former BC star Sam Apuzzo’s mark of 283 that she set in 2019.
North finished with four goals on six shots, upping her goal total to 18 on the year. She stole the headlines, but Jenn Medjid had the most eye-popping scoring play in the Fish Field House Saturday.
While cutting right, Medjid received a feed from Belle Smith and went left with an over-the-shoulder shot that got by BU goalie Reilly Agres.
Medjid wrapped things up with five goals. Smith, meanwhile, notched a hat trick in the first three minutes and 45 seconds of action. Her first goal was unassisted, her second came off a Medjid feeder and her third was the byproduct of a free-position shot.
BC, which scored five free-position goals against the Terriers Saturday, stormed out to a 9-2 first-quarter lead. That ballooned to a 16-2 advantage by halftime, in large part because the Eagles won seven of eight draws in the second quarter and dominated possession.
Things were already out of hand in the second half for the second game in a row, so BC’s bench got some playing time. That included Emily English, a freshman goalkeeper who played the final quarter yet didn’t make a save and allowed two goals.
Those were strikes from Abby Cotraro and Jennifer Barry. Both were answered by Eagles underclassmen. Mallory Hasselbeck responded to Cotraro’s with her second career goal, and Kit Arrix followed up Barry’s with her two goals on the day.
The blowout marked the second straight game in which the Eagles racked up 41 shots. They reached that total at UMass earlier in the week.
The Minutewoman registered four more shots but one less goal than BU in their 17-goal defeat.
UMass, which was picked to win the A-10 this year and is coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance, was simply outclassed Wednesday.
Nine different Eagles etched their names in the scorecard. Three tallied hat tricks. North rattled off seven goals, and Medjid netted five.
At first, though, the offense didn’t come in bunches for the Eagles. In fact, BC committed four first-quarter turnovers and was staring at a 2-1 deficit until there was 5:22 left in the opening frame.
That’s when the Eagles mounted five consecutive goals to end the period, starting with back-to-back scores from North, who ripped a laser of a free-position shot past UMass netminder Gina Carroll.
From that point forward, it was all Eagles. BC outscored the Minutewomen, 16-3, over the final three quarters. BC didn’t clean up in the circle. Actually, UMass only trailed, 12-9, in that department across those final three periods. But, in that span, the Eagles won the turnover battle, coughing up the ball only three times as opposed to the Minutewomen’s 10 giveaways.
Freshman middie Summer Agostino pushed BC to the 20-goal barrier early in the fourth quarter, logging her first career point in the process. It was a game of firsts as Mallory Hasselbeck and Erin Walsh—sisters of Annabelle Hasselbeck and Annie Walsh, respectively—both scored their first collegiate goals, and English made her debut in the cage.
The week saw BC dust a pair of in-state opponents and continue to pad its scoring margin.
The Eagles are third in the country in scoring offense, and North—while clearly a threat to repeat as the Tewaaraton winner—is only part of that ferocious attack.
