Firing the ball toward the Cardinals’ net, Boston College field hockey’s Madelieve Drion swiftly launched the ball through the legs of Daisy Ford and into the back of Stanford’s goal just 3:30 into Sunday’s tilt.
No. 10 BC (10–3, 5–0 Atlantic Coast) only built on this early momentum, ultimately defeating the Cardinals (5–7 0–6) 2–0. Not only did this matchup mark the Eagles’ second shutout of the weekend, but it maintained their perfect ACC and home record.
Entering into the matchup, BC had struggled converting on penalty corners. But Sunday’s game told an entirely different story, as both of the Eagle’s goals came from penalty corners.
“I think these past few games with penalty corners have kind of tripped us up a little bit, and we haven’t been getting outcomes and the percentage that I wanted out of it,” BC head coach Kelly Doton said. “Hopefully, in our next game, we will be able to put more goals in from penalty corners.”
Just seconds after beginning the game, Stanford advanced toward BC’s net—putting pressure on the Eagles’ Charlotte Kramer. But BC’s defense did not let up and the Eagles prevented the shot on net, sending the ball toward the midfield as BC offense took control.
And it did not take long for BC to get on the board. Just 3:30 into the matchup, Drion secured the Eagles’ first penalty corner of the game, one of eight they had in the game.
Sending the ball in off the penalty corner, Drion rapidly swept the ball to Peyton Hale, who fired the ball into the feet of Stanford’s Daisy Ford. Kicking the ball out of the cage, Ford sent the ball out of Stanford’s net, but Hale received the rebound and passed the ball to Drion, who tipped it into the Cardinals’ net.
Stanford never responded and ultimately failed to find its rhythm.
Entering the second half, the Eagles’ 1–0 lead stood, but the Cardinals were not letting BC’s offense get too many shots on goal. That was until the second half of the matchup when BC’s offense started to heat up again.
BC finished the game with 19 shots, with 11 of them being on goal, compared to Stanford’s three shots, none of which landed on net.
“I think the emphasis that we had this week was our defense,” Doton said. “We needed to be better, and that starts with individual defense and combining that into our press, so I was happy that we have got the two clean sheets within these last two games.”
After nine minutes of back and forth possession during the third frame, the Eagles secured another penalty corner.
After Stanford deflected the ball out of bounds on the first two penalty corner attempts, the third time proved to be the charm for BC.
Off a Juliette Hijdra and Hale assist, Martina Giacchino received the ball and juked her defender before she shot the ball into the lower left corner of the Cardinals’ net—marking her second goal of the season.
As the clock ticked down, so did Stanford’s chances of mounting a comeback. Despite pulling out Ford in the remaining minutes of the matchup to add another field player, the Cardinals could still not convert and BC won its fifth ACC matchup of the 2024 season.
While the Eagles were able to score two goals on the Cardinals, they were unable to score any goals off non-penalty situations.
When asked about the win, there are still some aspects of the Eagles’ game that Doton seeks to improve on.
“I think we are getting balls in the cage, but they are just not going in, as many times as we would like,” Doton said. “We are getting the ball into our attack-25, but as we got four goals against Cal and two goals against Stanford, I think we have more opportunities to do so and eliminate those fast-breaks on our defense.”
