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The Eagles are heading to their fourth straight NCAA Championship Game after beating undefeated UNC in a nail-biter today, pulling off the 11-10 victory thanks in large part to a career game from goalie Rachel Hall. Despite being one of the top teams in the country, the Eagles were the clear underdogs in this one after losing to the Tar Heels by a score of 21-9 in March.
The Eagles jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in this one thanks to Caitlynn Mossman, but UNC quickly scored 3 straight to go up 3-1. Freshman Belle Smith got BC back within a goal, only for UNC to regain the 2 goal lead shortly after.
Then Jenn Medjid then went on a tear, scoring a hat trick in the span of 6 minutes, and Charlotte North powered through double-team defense for her first of the game, and BC was up 6-4 with 8 minutes to go in the half. North’s goal was her 95th of the season, breaking Sam Apuzzo’s record.
UNC followed up BC’s 4 goal streak with 1 of their own, but Courtney and Cassidy Weeks both scored for BC to end the half and give the Eagles an 8-5 lead.
Mossman opened the scoring again in the second half to increase BC’s lead to 4, UNC quickly scored again, but Medjid and North each scored again to put BC up by 5. Medjid’s goal at 15:27 was BC’s final goal of the game, but Rachel Hall continued to make big saves and while UNC scored 4 straight, they ultimately were not able to overcome that 5 goal deficit.
One of the major reasons BC won today was Rachel Hall, who made multiple highlight reel saves, and saved 11 of the 21 SOG she faced. Hall played the best game of her career today, and BC really needed that from her since the Tar Heels did dominate on draw controls. Another player who won’t show up on the score sheet but deserves major praise for today’s win is Sydney Scales, who played really solid defense to shut down UNC’s top scorers as much as possible.
The Eagles will face the winner of Syracuse vs. Northwestern in Sunday’s championship game.