Each year, Boston College lacrosse honors Welles Crowther, a former BC men’s lacrosse player who saved upwards of a dozen lives during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, with a Red Bandanna Game in his honor. The Eagles don uniforms covered in red bandanna print and warm-up jerseys with number 19 on the back as a tribute to Crowther.
This Saturday, No. 4/5 BC (7-1, 2-1 ACC) continued the annual tradition against No. 8/9 Duke (6-4, 2-4 ACC) in this season’s Red Bandanna Game. The Eagles came back from a first-half deficit to take down the Blue Devils 17-15.
This year, Melanie Welch was the recipient of the number 19 jersey for the Red Bandanna Game, which is awarded to the player who most embodies the values of Crowther’s legacy. The junior walked onto the team as a freshman. She has torn her ACL twice since then and has rebounded, playing eight games this season with seven ground balls and two caused turnovers.
The Blue Devils scored the first goal of the game, giving them a lead which BC fought the rest of the first half to recover from. The two teams traded goals for the majority of the first half to create a one-point differential at halftime. Sisters Cassidy and Courtney Weeks each contributed one goal, and Cara Urbank and Annie Walsh each added one for the Eagles in the first half.
Charlotte North, who transferred to BC from Duke ahead of the 2020 season, took down her former team and contributed four goals in the first half to keep BC in the game despite its early struggles to find the back of the net. She finished the game with six goals and seven draw controls.
Duke goaltender Sophia LeRose had a strong showing in net, holding off the Eagles’ offense and logging six saves in the first half alone. Duke’s offense took advantage of the extra possessions, scoring nine goals and giving the Blue Devils a 9-8 lead at halftime.
In typical BC fashion, the Eagles settled in and put on a show in the second half. Shots started hitting the back of the net, passes became cleaner, and the defense tightened up.
Rachel Hall started the half with two quick saves for BC, matching her first-half total and foreshadowing the way that BC’s defense played for the remainder of the game.
Courtney Weeks’ goal with five seconds left in the first half set the stage for a 5-0 run by the Eagles over a 10-minute stretch.
Jenn Medjid quickly logged her first goal of the game to tie up the score about five minutes into the second half. Before the Blue Devils could even think about responding, Urbank logged two quick goals followed by another from Medjid, giving BC its first lead of the day at 12-9.
Duke never recovered from BC’s unanswered scoring run, and though the Blue Devils kept pounding the pavement, BC held tightly to its lead. Caitlynn Mossman, who leads the Eagles in assists with 18, added three assists. Urbank recorded her sixth multi-goal game of the season with four goals, and Medjid added two. Fittingly, the Eagles finished with 19 draw controls and honored Crowther’s legacy with a win.
Featured Image Courtesy of BC Athletics
