Boston College Field Hockey Falls To No. 1 North Carolina In OT

It was probably too much to ask of the Eagles field hockey team to notch its third victory over a top-10 opponent in as many weeks. Still, the program is so. freaking. close. to breaking through in a sport--and a conference--that is straight up killing it nationally.

The 6th-ranked Eagles field hockey team fell to top-ranked North Carolina, 3-2, in overtime on Friday afternoon. After knocking off second-ranked Connecticut (3-2 in shootouts) and Syracuse (3-2 in overtime), BC didn't have enough magic left in the tank to keep the string of overtime victories going.

"To have the ability to take No. 1 in the country into overtime is great, but more importantly, it wasn't random. It was an expected level of play," said head coach Ainslee Lamb.

The loss is Boston College's first overtime loss (3-1) and first home loss (3-1) of the season. The Eagles are 7-2 overall and 1-1 in the ACC, the sport's top conference in the land. It's not appreciably close, either.

"The ACC makes you want to be the best. It's that type of conference. We have seven programs that are trying to do that and it makes for a lot of exciting matchups.

"There's a lot to build off of. I think we made some really significant steps for the program. We don't have to step on the field and have every play go our way or have everything be perfect. We can compete with the best in the country right now," said Lamb.

Last week, the NCAA released its first set of rankings for the year. Boston College ranked 6th, behind only North Carolina, Connecticut, Albany, Iowa and Virginia. The ACC placed four teams in the top 10 (including Duke at 8) and all seven programs in the top 16.

The Eagles rebounded on Sunday, taking out New Hampshire, 4-1, in a home non-conference match. BC improves to 8-2 on the year.

The rest of the schedule lightens a bit down the stretch for BC, but still presents a few really stout challenges (last week's RPI in parenthesis).

10/3 - Wake Forest (15)
10/5 - at Northeastern (29)
10/10 - at Duke (8)
10/12 - at Appalachian State (74)
10/17 - at Louisville (16)
10/19 - vs. California in Louisville (30)
10/24 - Virginia (5)
10/28 at Harvard (40)

This is definitely a program that can make some serious noise both in the ACC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament later this fall. Go Eagles!