Before Tuesday, Boston College women’s lacrosse had not played in 348 days. It had been nearly 50 weeks—or 8,352 hours—since the Eagles torched Hofstra in what became the last game on the Heights of the 2020 season. After 501,120 minutes without competition, the Eagles wasted no time when their cleats hit the field.
A dominant offensive performance by Charlotte North propelled No. 13 BC (1-0) to a 22-12 win over Albany (0-1) in the Eagles’ non-conference season opener. The Eagles became the first BC team to play an intercollegiate matchup in the Fish Field House, which is usually reserved for football practice space. After dropping last year’s season opener to UMass Amherst, it was somewhat of a bounceback victory for the Eagles.
“I’m really excited for the girls,” head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein said in a press release. “I think they did a nice job executing a majority of what we were expecting. I think we have a lot to fix and a lot of holes to fill, but the girls are determined and they’re focused.”
The Great Danes spent the game’s first two minutes toe-to-toe with BC, but it didn’t take long for the Eagles to unleash their offensive armada. The Eagles quickly got the upper hand thanks to two quick goals by Cara Urbank and one apiece by North and junior Jenn Medjid, bringing the score to 4-1 only five minutes in.
North, who transferred to BC from Duke in 2019, recorded eight goals to match her career high. Urbank added four of her own. North’s elusiveness on the field helped her clinch a hat trick within the first 10 minutes of the game.
“I thought [North] did a really good job of attacking the net and exploding at the beginning of the game, which is what we want,” Walker-Weinstein said in the release. “We want to send a message right away. But I also thought our teammates did a nice job of opening up for her and being a threat off-ball to make it easier for her to go.”
The highlight of the first half was undoubtedly a 50-yard dime from goaltender Rachel Hall to North for her fourth goal of the first half. It went down in the books as unassisted, but Hall got all the credit on Twitter.
Albany’s Kyla Zapolski and Kendra Harbinger both got on the board in the early minutes of the game, but BC’s potent offense delivered a halftime score of 14-7 in the Eagles’ favor.
The second half told much of the same story. BC continued its prolific offensive effort and stifling defensive maneuvers to hold Albany to five goals in the second half.
Four first-year Eagles recorded their first career goals. Phoebe Day and Belle Smith netted two each, and Annabelle Hasselbeck and Kit Arrix each added one. Smith’s was highlight-reel worthy, as the freshman tore through the middle of the field before firing a point-blank, unassisted shot on net.
On the opposite end of the field, Hall, who announced her transfer to BC at the same time as North in 2019, only had to stretch for five saves. Abbey Ngai finished out the game for the last six and a half minutes and recorded one save.
BC spent the majority of the game in its offensive zone. Quick restarts and defensive whistles gave the Eagles the spark they needed to fuel their unending barrage of offense. Albany, on the other hand, seemed to be playing the more patient game, holding possession and passing around—as opposed to BC’s more aggressive and frenetic strategy.
Featured Image Courtesy of BC Athletics
