With Win at Brown, BC Off to First 5-0 Start Since 2019
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)Publisher
Charlotte North is the face of not only Boston College lacrosse but the entire sport of women's lacrosse. She's the reigning Tewaaraton Award winner, and she set the NCAA single-season goals record during the Eagles' national championship run last year.
There's a spotlight on North and, by extension, a deep and versatile Eagles offense.
BC's defense, on the other hand, is often overlooked.
"They get no credit, and they’re absolute beasts," head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein told USA Lacrosse Magazine earlier this month.
"They’re so good at what they do. For so long, the offense gets so much of the credit, but our defense is so dynamic and stable and so consistent. They’re the backbone of our team and work so unselfishly together."
Led by Temple grad transfer Courtney Taylor, BC caused 12 turnovers at Brown Saturday afternoon. The Eagles also won 14-of-25 ground balls and allowed only one Bears free-position shot. Goalie Rachel Hall made just two saves, but she saw a mere 11 shots on goal—eight fewer than she did against UVA.
It was a strong performance by the Eagles' defense in a 15-9 win in Rhode Island, the second of four consecutive road games for No. 1 BC (5-0, 1-0).
The Eagles are off to their first 5-0 start since 2019, a season in which the Eagles' lone losses came in the ACC Championship and National Championship.
North, who logged her fourth five-plus-goal outing of the young 2022 campaign Saturday, opened the scoring gates for the Eagles.
But Brown goals from Jackie Mason—who ripped a backhanded beamer past Hall—and Mia Mascone gave the Bears (1-2) their only lead of the day.
BC struggled to find the back of the net most of the opening frame. Three turnovers and losing 3-of-7 draws certainly factored in. But the play of Brown goalie Erin Tucker—who finished with 13 saves—was a big reason why. Eventually, though, things clicked for an Eagles offense that ranks second in the ACC in scoring.
The duo of Cassidy Weeks and Jenn Medjid produced three goals in the span of 79 seconds late in the first quarter. The first two were unassisted. The last was a Weeks goal off a Medjid feeder.
A three-goal surge turned into a 7-0 Eagles run in the second quarter. North carried the momentum over from one period to the next by rocketing in a shot from just inside the 12-meter mark less than three minutes into the frame.
Mascone ended Brown's drought. She used a dodge to get by BC middie Andrea Reynolds, switched her stick to her left hand and bounced a shot past Hall.
It was the first of three consecutive Bears goals that cut their deficit to three, making it an 8-5 game a third of the way through the third quarter.
Medjid stopped the bleeding, however, Maggie Fowler responded with a wraparound goal that kept it a three-score game.
That's when things started to get out of hand. BC erupted for a 6-0 run that drooled into the fourth quarter, where the Eagles dominated the circle (5-1 draw control advantage). During that six-goal frenzy, four different BC players scored: North, Caitlynn Mossman, Weeks—who registered a season-high three scores—and Belle Smith—who also had three caused turnovers on the day.
Brown scored the final three goals of the game but couldn't make a real dent in the Eagles' decisive cushion.
After allowing 15 goals and a halftime lead at UVA earlier in the week, BC's defense stepped up against a New England Ivy League foe.
It's a unit that's success is typically overshadowed yet is absolutely essential if the Eagles are to run the table in the regular season, like they did in 2019 and 2018.
