Although Boston College lacrosse’s Jenn Medjid did not play on Wednesday after suffering an injury in the Eagles’ 14–3 win over No. 18 Southern California on Saturday, BC didn’t miss a beat in its second game of the season.
“She’s good, she’s good,” BC head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein said of Medjid. “We’re just, this is precautionary at this point, which is good news.”
Kayla Martello and Mallory Hasselbeck carried the load in Medjid’s absence, scoring eight combined goals to propel No. 3 BC (2–0) past No. 23 UMass (1–1). BC’s 16–6 win on Wednesday marked its second straight double-digit win of the season, and the Eagles’ seventh win in Fish Field House—a venue in which they are undefeated.
But despite the comfortable win, the Eagles did not look themselves in the first half of the contest, holding only an 8–5 advantage at halftime.
“I think we pulled it off over the course of 60 minutes,” Walker-Weinstein said. “But I think play to play, the whole team wasn’t, we weren’t totally ourselves today. So, you know, of course we’re proud of winning, but, you know, we have higher expectations and we got a lot of work to do before Sunday.”
The Minutewomen struck first at the 10:59 mark in the period when Charlotte Wilmoth slipped the ball past Rachel Hall.
Just over one minute later, BC knotted the game at one after Martello nailed a free position attempt. BC gained the lead for the first time in the contest 63 seconds later when Hasselbeck found the ball after Belle Smith’s free position attempt, shoving it past UMass’ Gina Carroll for the score.
But the Minutewomen’s resilience was apparent, and they squared the game away at two apiece at the 7:39 mark.
The Eagles scored two more goals in the quarter and took a 4–2 lead heading into the second quarter. Courtney Weeks tallied her first goal of the season, and then Martello, who found the net for her second goal of the game, put BC up two.
The second quarter, however, started just like the first quarter, with the Minutewomen striking early. UMass’ Kassidy Morris brought the game back within one 66 seconds in, but once again, the Eagles quickly responded.
Martello earned a hat trick with her third goal of the game and 44 seconds later Cassidy Weeks joined the scorers’ circle as BC established a 6–3 lead with 8:34 remaining in the second quarter. Less than two minutes later, Cassidy Weeks recorded another goal to put the Eagles up by four.
UMass refused to let the Eagles run away with the game, though, and added two goals in the final five minutes of the half. But Martello was awarded a free position attempt after a late UMass foul. Martello converted for her fourth goal of the game and the Eagles entered halftime leading 8–5.
Despite the back-and-forth period, BC dominated draw controls in the first half, taking command of 11 to UMass’ four and outshooting the Minutewomen 16–10.
After letting the Minutewomen score first in the first and second quarters, the Eagles flipped the script in the third quarter. BC recorded five unanswered goals in the quarter—similar to the Eagles’ four unanswered fourth-quarter goals in their first game that featured Medjid notching her fifth goal of the game.
“I think they tried to sort of manually get on the same page and talk about what they needed to do,” Walker-Weinstein said. “And I think the execution was a little better, but not by a whole lot. So I was just happy that they felt that there were some lulls and then that they tried to address that. We need to do better from the start.”
BC’s five third-quarter goals on Wednesday, however, came from Martello, Courtney Weeks, Andrea Reynolds, Mckenna Davis, and Hasselbeck, displaying BC’s depth even without Medjid on the field.
“I think they all knew it was a good opportunity for them against a really physical, strong defense,” Walker-Weinstein said. “And I think they knew there were opportunities to step up and they had to work extra hard having our leader out. So I think they did a good job with that.”
Up 13–5 with 15 minutes to play, sophomore goalie Shea Dolce got the nod to take charge of the net in the final quarter of play. She replaced Hall, who gave up five goals and made seven saves.
Dolce conceded one goal in the quarter.
On offense, the Eagles tacked on three more goals in the fourth quarter from Davis, Hasselbeck, and Smith, who also recorded four assists in the win.
Correction (2/16/23, 5:58 p.m.): This article previously stated that BC defeated Southern California 18–3 on Saturday, Feb. 11. It was corrected to state that BC defeated Southern California 14–3.
