Entering its Wednesday afternoon game against No. 2-seeded Duke, No. 3-seeded Boston College field hockey found itself trying to make the ACC Championship for the first time since 2019—in search of its first conference championship.
But the Blue Devils did not make this feat easy.
In fact, it took all of regulation, two overtimes, and a shootout against Duke to determine who would be facing the 2023 National Champions No. 1-seed North Carolina on Friday.
The last time the Eagles faced the Blue Devils, Duke came out on top 1–0 and ended BC’s undefeated ACC streak. But less than three weeks later, the ACC Semifinals matchup told a different story, as BC (14–5, 6–2 Atlantic Coast) defeated Duke (12–6, 6–2) 2–1.
From the opening play of the matchup, it was clear that it was going to be a gritty battle between the ACC opponents.
“Duke had their moments, they are a really good team,” BC head coach Kelly Doton said. “Our defense held their ground against a really good attack team.”
The first half of the game appeared relatively silent for both the Eagles and the Blue Devils. Neither team tallied any shots on goal, corners, or saves within the first thirty minutes of play.
It wasn’t until the third frame when both team’s scoring droughts ended. Just 3:02 into the third quarter, the Blue Devils scored their first goal of the matchup after a penalty corner turned into a Kira Curland goal.
But it did not take too long for the Eagles to respond.
Just over seven minutes after Duke’s goal, BC got on the board themselves. Off a Mia Garber penalty corner, Madelief Grandjean threw her stick back, flinging the ball toward Duke’s net and through the legs of Frederique Wollaert.
That goal would mark the last goal for the next 40 minutes though.
Locked in a 1–1 standstill after four frames, the Eagles and Blue Devils entered two periods of overtime play.
“Overtime is brutal, especially in a back-to-back game,” Doton said. “I told our players from the first whistle to one minute that they are going to feel their legs like no other. It’s fatigue, they feel heavy mentally, but it is about fighting. You need to be willing to not feel great but still have the heart and desire to win. And that’s what they did.”
But neither of the overtimes ended with a team on top.
As shootouts began, so did the Charlotte Kramer show. None of Duke’s attempts ended in a goal, as Kramer shut down each attempt—diving for the ball or pushing it out of bounds.
“We had faith in Charley in goal,” Doton said. “Stopping all their shots was pretty remarkable. As much as we had confidence in her in the shootout, she had confidence within herself. She stuck to her technique. She was agile in the cage and well-deserving of the ACC goalkeeper of the year.”
Not only was Kramer poised, but so were her teammates.
Bringing BC its first successful goal, Yani Zhong paved the way for another one of her teammate’s to end the game—Martina Giacchino.
Dribbling down toward the goal, Giacchino juked her defender, made a turnaround move, and slid the ball right past Wollaert’s legs to send BC to the ACC championship, taking on UNC on Friday.
“We have to look at stopping their corners,” Doton said of BC’s upcoming matchup against UNC. “They seemingly get a lot of corners because if their attack isn’t the best in the country, it is one of the top two. We are not going to be able to give them the goal-scoring opportunities that we have given them these past two games, and it’s a tall task … But we have a shot.”
On Tuesday evening, the Eagles downed No. 6-seed Stanford in the ACC Quarterfinals 3–2 thanks to goals from Giacchino, Grandjean, and Zhong.
“You want to score on penalty corners, but you do not want to rely on them,” Doton said. “You want to have some open-field goals, but at the end of the day, we put three goals in and won three to two.”
