With another blizzard hitting Chestnut Hill this weekend, Boston will spend one more day digging its way out of the tundra.
Thankfully, with so much practice this month, the city knows just how to handle Mother Nature when she drops two feet of snow. In a similar manner, the Boston College women’s lacrosse team knew how to dig itself out on Saturday, rebounding after allowing its opponents to go on a 4-0 run: freeze their offense, plow downfield, and slip past the goalie.
This was the first meeting ever between the No. 18 Johns Hopkins Blue Jays (1-1) and the No. 6 Eagles (1-0), and both teams were hungry for a win. The Eagles used their blizzard-fighting knowledge to storm past the Blue Jays, 9-5.
BC won the faceoff but immediately lost the ball. The team soon got it back after a JHU penalty. The Eagles stormed down field, allowing Mikaela Rix to cut into the eight-meter arc and fly one past Casey Emerson’s head to put her team up 1-0 early on.
BC continued to eat up the clock and wear down the JHU defense. Every time the Blue Jays had an opportunity to gain possession, they committed a foul, giving the ball back to the Eagles. After a penalty in the arc, Caroline Margolis was given an open shot from the eight. She ran in and fired a shot to make it 2-0.
The Eagles were then called for a penalty of their own. The Blue Jays’ Kristen Cannon passed to Alexis Maffucci, who stutter-stepped and ripped a shot past BC’s Zoe Ochoa to make it 2-1. The Eagles answered with a rapid transition goal by Sarah Mannelly.
Minutes later, Mannelly cut in and out of the arc before wrapping around and losing her defender. Wide open, she found the net once again. With a comfortable 4-1 lead with 15 minutes left, the Eagles slowed down. JHU took advantage of this and scored two rapid goals to get within one.
For the rest of the half the Blue Jays maintained possession. Even with a BC double team in her way, Dene DiMartino scored and tied the game with two minutes left in the half. Thirty seconds later, JHU headed back down the field. Haley Schweizer fired one past Ochoa to give her team the first lead of the game. Going into the locker room, the Eagles were down 5-4.
In order to dig themselves out, BC’s defense needed to ice out its opponents to give the offense time on the other end. With a new goalie in for the Blue Jays, the Eagles came out aggressively and slowly closed in on goal. The offense slowed down the pace and made careful passes around the horn. Covie Stanwick wrapped behind the goal and spun to ditch her defender. After a rapid switch to shoot left-handed, she dipped and dunked by faking high and shooting low to tie the game.
Seconds later Margolis fired one in, making it 6-5. JHU received and maintained possession. The team slowed down the pace to give its midfielders a rest. The Blue Jays’ careful execution allowed them to break inside. Shots went wide and BC snagged the ball and head downfield.
Margolis wrapped around the net and Stanwick set a pick to help Margolis lose her defender. Margolis stuttered and faked to toss in another goal, picking up a hat trick and a two-goal cushion for BC.
After the faceoff, the Eagles maintained possession and stalled. Kate Rich cut through the arc and tiptoed the crease. She flipped the ball to Tess Chandler, who ripped it past Caroline Federico to make it 8-5.
BC was not done yet. Seconds later, Laura Frankfield tallied another goal. At the time, the Eagles were out shooting the Blue Jays 24-17. After only having two shots in the second half with 10 minutes left, JHU called a timeout. The Blue Jays could not capitalize on any possession for the remainder of the game, even though their offense pressed hard.
With 1:10 left, Jen Cook received a yellow card, giving the Eagles a one-man, four-goal cushion. JHU pulled its goalie but with one player penalized, the team struggled to pull through. Ochoa’s shutout second half helped the Eagles comeback and glide past the Blue Jays 9-5.
