Boston College Women’s Lacrosse Loses ACC Championship in Second Half Collapse

Despite a strong start, Boston College lost to UNC in tonight’s ACC Championship game, going scoreless in the third quarter and ultimately losing 16-9.

The teams started out showing of their defense, and it took just over 3 and a half minutes for UNC to break through and score the first goal of the game. McKenna Davis tied things up just about 2 minutes later, taking a pass from Charlotte North and chucking it into the net.

Cassidy Weeks quickly followed up with a goal to give the Eagles their first lead of the game, forcing her way through a pair of UNC defenders to make it 2-1. Good defensive plays kept UNC from tying it back up, and a sequence of fast passes ended up with Mallory Hasselbeck scoring to increases BC’s lead to 3-1.

UNC cut BC’s lead to 3-2 with about 4 and a half minutes to go in the first quarter, and the period ended at that score as neither team could break through the other’s defense effectively.

Rachel Hall started out the second quarter with a great save to keep BC in the lead, and North followed it right up with an absolute rocket to push BC’s lead to 2. UNC didn’t let that hold for long however, and almost immediately BC’s lead went back down to 1 with a score of 4-3.

The teams traded opportunities as the period wound down, but neither could get past the other’s goalie until Belle Smith bounced a shot past UNC’s goaltender to give BC a 5-3 lead with 3:42 to go in the half. North then gave the Eagles their biggest lead of them game, coming in at the corner of the net and scoring to make it 6-3.

UNC scored with just over 4 seconds to go in the half, and BC ended up taking a 6-4 lead into halftime.

UNC struck first in the second half to cut BC’s lead to 6-5 before tying things at 6 just about 3 minutes into the half. UNC continued to dominate as the third quarter went on, going up and 11-6 by the end of the period and not allowing BC to score a single goal.

UNC continued their offensive onslaught in the fourth period, and by the time BC scored again the score was 14-6 UNC. Caitlynn Mossman finally broke through for BC exactly 4 minutes into the final period of play, making the score 14-7 UNC.

Charlotte North got the hat trick with 8:21 to go in the game, with a fake-out and then a goal to make it 14-8 UNC. BC’s momentum was cut down at 6:45, when Sydney Scales had to be helped off the field with a leg injury.

UNC made it 15-8 after Scales left the game, but North passed to Cassidy Weeks for the next goal of the game to make it 15-9 UNC with just about 2 minutes to go. UNC scored on BC’s empty net immediately to bump their lead back to 7 at 16-9, and that would be the final in the one.

The Eagles’ season will continue in the NCAA Tournament.