After going 4–0 at home inside of Fish Field House during the first month of the season, No. 5 Boston College lacrosse will no longer have the luxury of protecting from the elements of the outdoors by playing indoors at home. On Saturday the Eagles officially moved into Alumni Stadium, where they’ll play the remainder of their home games this season.
Despite facing heavy wind and snow in Alumni Stadium, the Eagles (5–2, 2–1 Atlantic Coast) came back from a four-goal first-quarter deficit, and behind 12 unanswered goals, earned a 19–8 win over Louisville (4–3, 1–2). It’s the most goals the Eagles have scored all season.
Louisville proved to be some of the Eagles’ stiffest competition of the season in the game’s first half, as for nearly the entire first quarter, the Cardinals dominated. Kokoro Nakazawa struck first for the Cardinals at the 11:03 mark, and by the 7:57 mark, they had taken a 3–0 lead.
After a BC timeout, Jenn Medjid finally broke the Eagles’ scoreless streak at the 7:42 mark, but the Cardinals kept their foot on the gas, potting two more goals which extended their lead to four with 2:35 remaining in the quarter.
In the final two minutes of the quarter, the Eagles made a late run at Louisville’s early 5–1 lead. Belle Smith found the net at the 1:59 mark, and just over a minute later, Medjid notched her second goal to make it 5–3 heading into the second quarter.
An intense offensive battle ensued, as Louisville’s Nicole Perroni tallied her second goal of the game 59 seconds into the second quarter, but Medjid responded 40 seconds later with a close-range goal to complete her hat trick.
Kayla Martello cut the deficit to one by bouncing a shot between the legs of Louisville goalkeeper Sara Addeche, and Smith knotted the game at six apiece just 4:57 into the quarter.
The Cardinals, however, refused to let BC run away with the game. Perroni gave the Cardinals a 7–6 lead, but less than a minute later, Andrea Reynolds tied the game at seven.
Kylea Dobson potted a goal—what would be Louisville’s last of the game—to give the lead back to Louisville at the 7:45 mark, which prompted BC head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein to replace Hall with freshman Shea Dolce. It was the earliest goalkeeper substitution Walker-Weinstein has made all season.
Medjid and Mckenna Davis each registered one goal each which gave BC its first lead of the game at the 4:55 mark in the second quarter. The Eagles took that 9–8 lead to the end of the half.
But the second half did not feature the offensive duel that was seen in the first half, as BC took solid command of the game.
Smith extended BC’s lead to two with her third goal of the game at the 10:11 mark, and over seven minutes later, Medjid tallied her fifth of the game to put BC up 11–8.
The third and final goal of the third quarter came from Smith again, and the Eagles entered the fourth quarter with a four-goal lead.
BC ran up the score in the final quarter, pouring on seven more goals. Of those seven goals, Hunter Roman, Shea Baker, and Ryan Smith notched their first goals of the season. Nine total Eagles scored in the win.
Despite facing intense weather conditions and playing a career-high 38 minutes, Dolce finished the contest with five saves and gave up zero goals in Alumni Stadium.
