Lopsided Third Quarter the Difference in BC's ACC Title Game Defeat
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)Publisher
Boston College head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein said earlier this week that the Eagles couldn't afford to be streaky during Saturday evening's ACC Championship against top-seeded and top-ranked North Carolina.
"I think what we're looking for heading into Saturday is not a perfect game but a 60-minute game," she said. "And I think those are very different things.
"We need 60 minutes of effort and execution."
BC got 45, if that. The missing 15 minutes came in the third quarter when UNC turned a two-goal deficit into a five-score lead, running away with what was a 16-9 victory in a rain-soaked Chapel Hill and its sixth consecutive ACC Championship. That ties Maryland for the longest streak in ACC history.
Second-seeded and No. 2 BC (16-3, 6-2 ACC), still searching for its first-ever ACC Championship, won the game's opening draw, but Jenn Medjid's ensuing free-position shot ringed off the post. It was a sign of things to come for an Eagles squad that landed just nine of its 20 first-half shots on goal—uncharacteristic for a team that entered the day second nationally in shot percentage (50.8%).
Conditions at a puddle and mud-ridden Dorrance Field were a factor in both teams' shot inaccuracy, particularly in the first half when the country's top-two scoring offenses combined for only 10 goals.
The game's first goal came more than three minutes into the first quarter, and it was an accident.
Ally Mastroianni, one of UNC's four top-25 Tewaaraton nominees, lofted a pass for Brooklyn Neumen. Although Neumen couldn't get her stick on the feed, it bounced into the cage past a confused Rachel Hall to put the Tar Heels (18-0, 8-0) up, 1-0.
BC responded, though. The Eagles rattled off three consecutive goals. Charlotte North, who tied former Stony Brook star Courtney Murphy's NCAA career goals record (341) Saturday, assisted the first and logged a hockey assist on the third. Mckenna Davis, Cassidy Weeks and Caitlynn Mossman all etched their names into the scorecard during the run.
Except, it wasn't long until Jamie Ortega kickstarted her nine-point performance. The fifth-year Tar Heels attacker, who broke Jen Adams ACC career points record during the title game, scored the first of four goals to make it a 3-2 game before the end of the first quarter.
UNC responded quickly again after North ripped twine with a flamethrower on the run. In fact, 36 seconds later, Ortega flipped a pass to Mastroianni, and the veteran middie beamed her own trailing shot past Hall.
For the most part, however, Hall was superb in the first half. She made six saves in the opening two quarters, more than she made in the first two games of the ACC Tournament combined.
She stopped a bullet from Elizabeth Hillman, then she snuffed out an Andie Aldave free-position shot. And her fifth save of the opening half led to a Belle Smith bouncer that increased the Eagles' lead to 5-3.
It appeared as if BC was going to take a three-goal lead into intermission after North tiptoed around the crease before dipping her wrist and depositing the ball into the bottom-left corner of the cage.
But, with 4.4 ticks remaining in the half, Scottie Rose Growney found the back of the net, capitalizing on an Ortega assist. At the time, it simply seemed like something UNC could build on.
What it really was, though, was the start of a monstrous 11-0 run.
UNC shut out BC, 7-0, in the third quarter. The Tar Heels won 6-of-8 draw controls and 5-of-7 ground balls in the period, in addition to scoring seven of their eight shots on goal. As good as the Eagles were defensively in the opening two quarters, they fell apart in the third stanza. UNC dissected their double teams and consistently beat Hall.
Less than three minutes into the second half, the Tar Heels tied the game, thanks to a smooth spin and score from Aldave. It was the first of three goals notched by the Notre Dame transfer in the third period.
Before Aldave scored again, Mastroianni, Growney and Ortega tacked on a trio of goals in the span of 3:14.
Aldave wrapped up the masterclass third quarter with back-to-back goals, the first of which was set up by Emily Nalls, who intercepted a Mossman flip pass and led the break.
To make matters worse for BC, the Tar Heels scored the first three goals of the final frame, pushing their lead to 14-6. Walker-Weinstein pulled Hall for sophomore goalie Maddy Manahan—but only for 5:34.
The Eagles built a tiny bit of momentum with a pair of goals to end their 20-minute scoring drought. Mossman cashed in a bouncer. Then North faked her patented eight-meter laser on a free-position chance and split a pair of UNC sticks before charging in for her third goal of the night.
BC's "comeback" ended there.
Eagles All-ACC first-team defender Sydney Scales suffered a left leg injury and had to be helped off the field. Shortly after, a Taylor Moreno save led to another Growney goal.
Moreno, who saved 9-of-18 shots on goal, put an exclamation point on the runaway victory by launching a bomb of a clear to Ortega, who located Caitlyn Wurzburger for an empty-net score.
Moreno made one more stop before the clock ran out and the horn sounded.
Head coach Jenny Levy's team celebrated its 18th consecutive ACC Tournament game victory. In the process, the Tar Heels surely clinched the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
BC, on the other hand, enters May Madness with three losses and without an ACC Championship for the second year in a row.
If a national championship repeat is on horizon for the Eagles, they'll likely have to get past UNC.
They'll have to hope the third time's the charm.
And that they play a complete 60 minutes.
