NCAA Tournament Preview: Boston College Lacrosse vs. James Madison

After an amazing comeback against #1 Maryland on Friday night, Boston College women’s lacrosse will play in the NCAA finals for the second year in a row. The Eagles will face #3 seed James Madison, who easily defeated UNC in the early game on Friday. The Eagles and the Dukes have each only lost 1 game this season, and both schools’ losses were to the team their opponent just beat - BC lost once to UNC, and James Madison’s only loss was to Maryland.

These are a pair of evenly matched teams and this game should be another thriller. BC is absolutely capable of winning their first National Championship tomorrow, but in order to do so the Eagles are going to need to limit their turnovers and to continue to excel at draw controls.

Sam Apuzzo picked things up on offense against Maryland after a couple quiet games, which is a good sign for BC. The Dukes, like BC, are deep on offense, but they don’t have a player with as much offensive output as Apuzzo. Apuzzo is also significantly stronger on the draw control than any James Madison players - even if they shut her down on offense, Apuzzo will still be a major factor in the game. If the Eagles can control possessions, they could very easily earn their first NCAA title.

Who:

Boston College Eagles (22-1) vs.

James Madison Dukes (21-1)

When: Sunday, May 27 @ 12:00 PM

Where: Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium, Stony Brook, NY

How to watch: ESPNU will air the game

Live stats: ncaa.com

How to follow: Follow @bcinterruption, @Lberestecki, @salzano14, and @BCwlax.

STATS

Goals per game: BC: 15.7 JMU: 15.7

Goals allowed per game: BC: 9.4 JMU: 9.0

Ground balls per game: BC: 19.6 JMU: 19.2

Turnovers per game: BC: 14.7 JMU: 14.3

Caused turnovers per game: BC: 8.4 JMU: 10.7

Draw controls per game: BC: 16.2 JMU: 14.4