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The Boston College women's lacrosse team finished off its regular season with a resounding blowout victory over Boston University on Saturday to improve to 15-3 on the season. Following the win, BC awaited its tournament fate, which was made more cloudy following their painful ACC quarterfinal exit to Syracuse last week. Fortunately for the Eagles, not only are they still hosting a tournament game, they're still getting a first round bye. As a result, BC is four games from a national title, and their road to Philadelphia starts at home this weekend.
The Eagles were seeded #5 overall, with the top 6 teams in the 26-team field earning byes into the 16-team second round. The seeding also meant that BC will host a second round game. Loyola (MD) and Bryant will square off on Newton Campus's lacrosse field on Friday in the first round for the right to face the Eagles.
Looming on the horizon for the Eagles should they manage to navigate past Bryant or Loyola is Syracuse, the #4 seed after an exhilarating and surprising run to an ACC title that included a triple-overtime win over BC. If both teams make it through next weekend, BC will get their rematch with Syracuse up at the Carrier Dome in two weeks' time.
BC and Syracuse were two of a staggering 7 of 8 ACC teams to make the tournament field. Duke and North Carolina also earned top-6 seeds in the tournament. The entire bracket is viewable here.
To get to that Syracuse matchup, BC will need to beat a good team no matter what happens on Friday. Loyola went 15-4 on the season and Bryant was 14-4. Interestingly, Bryant and Loyola were the two teams BC had to face - and that they defeated - last season en route to an NCAA quarterfinal appearance.