North Sets Career High for Draw Controls in Dominant Win Over Yale
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)Publisher
At the start of Boston College lacrosse’s four-game road trip, the Eagles were clobbered on the draw. Led by Aubrey Williams, who ranks seventh nationally in draw controls per game, No. 14 Virginia won 27-of-41 bouts in the circle.
“I think it just allowed us to be exposed a little bit and find some more weaknesses that we had that maybe we didn’t know about,” BC head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein said Sunday. “But our girls have been so resilient, and they work so hard on all their draw work, all their circle work.
“And I think they did a really good job of turning it around.”
Since that Feb. 23 afternoon in Charlottesville—during which BC turned a halftime deficit into a seven-goal victory—the Eagles have won 66.4% of their draws.
Sunday afternoon was an exclamation point on that turnaround. The Eagles won 24-of-32 draws, a career-high 14 of which were won by Charlotte North, and maintained a double-digit lead over Yale for the greater portion of three quarters in Fish Field House, en route to a 21-9 win.
And that was against a Bulldogs team that was off to its first 4-0 start since 2018 and ranked first in the Ivy League in draw controls per game.
The non-conference matchup was practically over by the end of the first frame. No. 1 BC (8-0, 2-0 ACC) piled up 10 goals in the opening period, its most in a quarter this season. North accounted for four of them, most notably a pair of beaming free-position shots.
Yale (4-1, 1-0 Ivy) goalie Clare Boone couldn’t seem to stop anything coming her way. Even when she appeared to save a North shot by dropping low, the ball trickled under her and into the cage. The Bulldogs switched netminders after the first quarter. Freshman Cami Donadio fared better, making five saves in relief. But her first didn’t come until the 1:22 mark of the second quarter.
Taylor Everson scored two of Yale’s three goals in the first quarter. The second was an empty netter following a Rachel Hall foul. Olivia Markert, the reigning Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week, scored the other on a woman-up opportunity, going low on a free-position shot.
BC didn’t waste any time expanding upon its 10-3 lead in the second frame. The Eagles forced a running clock two and a half minutes into the period, thanks to three straight goals.
Mckenna Davis got the ball rolling, scoring the first of her three goals—which ultimately marked the freshman’s first-career hat trick. North and Jenn Medjid, who also logged a hat trick, followed to put BC up, 13-3.
The Eagles’ 5-0 run was capped by North capitalizing on a Mallory Hasselbeck caused turnover and firing a shot over her left shoulder into the back of the cage.
Fallon Vaughn, who was tied with Everson for a team-high three points, ended the Bulldogs’ scoring drought with a free-position goal.
BC’s attack slowed from there as Walker-Weinstein rotated through her deep offense. Changes were also made on the other end of the field. In goal, too, where both Emily English and Maddy Manahan each played at least five minutes in the second half.
After Cassidy Weeks and Vaughn traded goals early in the third frame, the Eagles rattled off three scores in a row. First, Ryan Smith shoveled in a rebound. Then, Davis went top shelf, unassisted. And the stretch culminated in a North free-position goal.
“The depth on this team is endless,” North said. “Top to bottom, we see it every day at practice. You can see it out here on a game day, too. It's just, everyone is so talented.”
Sophie Straka scored toward the end of the third quarter, setting the stage for a final frame, in which Yale outscored BC, 3-2. The game, of course, was out of hand by that point.
The Eagles finished with nine goal scorers. Yale finished with nine goals.
“It's just exciting to see new people step up and get their opportunities out here and do a really good job,” Walker-Weinstein said. “They all work so hard during the week that when they do get their chances on game day, they do a really good job.”
