NCAA Women’s Lacrosse tournament: Boston College vs. Fairfield - Game time, how to watch, start time, preview

In 2017, 2018, and 2019, the Boston College women’s lacrosse team made the national championship game and fell one game short of glory. Their quest to return to the Final Four and make it one step further was upended last year due to COVID-19, but they begin the push toward a fourth consecutive deep tournament run today in their first-round matchup against Fairfield.

Boston College is the #4 overall seed in the tournament after posting a 13-3 record and a trip to the ACC semifinals.

Here’s the info you need to get you ready for the game:

Boston College vs. Fairfield
NCAA First Round

Game time: The game will start at 1 PM ET.

Location: BC hosts this matchup at the Newton Campus soccer and lacrosse field. The game is closed to the public.

How to watch: The game will be streamed via ESPN3.com/ WatchESPN.com. The direct link to the game stream is here.

Scouting the matchup: Fairfield is 13-1 this season, and champions of the MAAC. They earned the conference’s autobid, though they have not played a non-MAAC team this season, so it’s tough to know exactly how they stack up with other conferences. In the ‘for what it’s worth’ department, the Stags have won the MAAC three times in a row, but were booted in the first round of each of the NCAA tournament appearances in 2018 and 2019, including a 15-13 loss to Wagner in their most recent tourney game.

Boston College’s strongest asset is their offense, with BC scoring over 16 goals per game - good for 7th in the nation. They are also 6th in the nation in draw control percentage, allowing them to create lots of chances. Both the scoring and the draw controls are fueled by the tremendous season of Charlotte North, one of three Eagles to make the all-ACC first team (along with Belle Smith and Hollie Schleicher).

Tournament picture: The winner of today’s matchup advances to face the winner of UMass vs. Temple on Sunday at 1 pm in Newton. Check out the full bracket here.

Teams that advance out of this weekend’s regional pods will advance to the single-elimination quarterfinals, which will be held next weekend (May 22-23) on campus sites.

As the #4 overall seed, BC would likely host a quarterfinal game, with #5 seed Notre Dame favored to advance and lined up to play BC should both teams make it that far. The Final Four is May 28-30 at Towson University.

But there’s a long way to go before we can worry about that just yet - BC needs to start their tournament run with a strong performance today against Fairfield.

Go Eagles!