Even when everything is going right, there’s no need to take the foot off the gas. That was on display by No. 1 Boston College lacrosse’s Kayla Martello in the first quarter against the University of Pittsburgh.
With three Panthers defenders pressuring, the ball popped high in the air out of Martello’s stick before falling back in front of her, allowing her to dodge one last defender before dispatching it into the back of the net to put the Eagles up 4–1.
“I think she [Martello] puts herself in positions to, you know, be in the right spot at the right time,” BC head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein said. “Which is all timing, and it’s IQ. She’s got an excellent awareness of when to cut, how to cut, and how to get herself open.”
The Eagles (5–0, 1–0 Atlantic Coast) outplayed the Panthers (1–3, 0–1) on offense and defense to coast to a 19–3 win in brisk conditions in Pittsburgh on Saturday morning.
The Eagles were tested by the Panthers early on. After Emma LoPinto put the Eagles ahead less than a minute and a half into the game, the Panthers turned up the pressure on BC.
Sydney Naylor rewarded the Panthers’ effort by slipping a shot past Shea Dolce to make it 1–1 early in the first quarter.
Despite pressure from the Panthers, Rachel Clark and Cassidy Weeks responded quickly for the Eagles. They scored goals a minute apart, both from running down the slot, making it 3–1 with 6:29 remaining in the first quarter.
The Eagles had success finding pockets when the Panthers switched to zone defense.
“We just have a couple of different game plans that we expect them to be able to access no matter what the defense is playing in,” Walker-Weinstein said. “But, we just, we talked a lot about being ready for both of those.”
BC dominated the rest of the first quarter with LoPinto scoring her second on a crease roll from behind the goal, followed by Clark firing it past Audrey Moran to give BC a 6–1 lead at the end of the quarter.
Weeks scored again for the Eagles 28 seconds of the second quarter, but the Panthers responded. After killing off two penalties, Ava Washington shrugged off three BC defenders before firing it into the top of the net to cut the lead to 7–2.
The Panthers kept their intensity for the rest of the second quarter, but another goal from LoPinto to give her a first half hat trick, coupled with a goal from Martello, gave the Eagles a 10–2 lead at the break.
The Eagles’ defense kept the Panthers to two goals in the first half, and then scoreless until the 6:09 mark of the fourth quarter, when Emily Coughlin scored to cap off Pittsburgh’s scoring at only three goals.
“There’s a lot of chemistry back there with those girls,” Walker-Weinstein said. “I think there’s a lot of trust between the four defenders, and there’s building trust between the defenders and the midfielders.”
McKenna Davis continued BC’s first half dominance with a free position goal to open the second half, stretching the Eagles’ lead to 11–2.
The Eagles sealed their win over the Panthers with three goals in the final 5:10 of the third quarter to make it 15–2 heading into the final frame. Belle Smith and Andrea Reynolds both got on the scoresheet, then Martello scored again with one second remaining in the quarter.
“[Martello’s] game is really a product of high IQ Lacrosse,” Walker-Weinstein said. “I’m really proud of her and we expect her to be that way, but she seems to be getting better and better every single game.”
Martello joined Clark, Weeks and LoPinto as the fourth BC player with a hat trick in the first three quarters.
Clark scored 2:15 into the fourth quarter off of Davis’s 20th assist of the season, bringing the score to 16–2.
Annabelle Hasselback scored two goals and Martello added a fourth goal to her statline in the final ten minutes of the game to cap off a 19–3 win for the Eagles.
“I think they’re working really hard, and I think that’s really the main place to draw confidence is from working hard, not really the 5–0 start,” Walker-Weinstein said. “It’s really just about the next game, not what the record says.”
