When asked about No. 1 Boston College lacrosse’s matchup against No. 2 Northwestern, BC head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein gave a surprising response.
“We told the girls before the game that this is not a rematch of last year—it’s two different teams, and it’s not a championship game but a regular season game,” Walker-Weinstein said. “We told them that they had to trust the new gameplan, the new players, and the new recipe to win today.”
While the BC lacrosse team that played in Evanston, Ill., on Saturday looks vastly different from that of the 2024 National Championship–winning squad, both achieved success—although in much different ways.
Defeating Northwestern on its home turf, BC did what no team has done in nearly five seasons—they ended a 47 home-game Wildcat winning streak.
“We just treated them as a normal opponent, and we have two different teams, as we graduated people and they graduated people, and we were just thinking about ourselves and how we can be the better team,” Molly Driscoll said about the preparation for the matchup.
Coming out the gate, the Eagles could not be contained.
With a little under seven minutes to play in the first frame, Driscoll kicked off the Eagles’ scoring frenzy after a Wildcat turnover by Noel Cumberland.
Just over three minutes later, Kylee Colbert tacked on another goal after launching a rocket into the back of Northwestern’s net and above the reach of Delaney Sweitzer. But she wasn’t done quite yet, as she fired in another goal several minutes later off a Rachel Clark assist.
While most of the time the dynamic duo of Clark and Emma LoPinto receive all the attention, Colbert and Driscoll had the spotlight against the Wildcats—both second-year players recorded hat tricks in the game.
“I’m just really proud of them, and they score a bajillion goals every day at practice, and I am just happy that they were ready for their moment, and now everyone else is going to see how good they are, and I’ve known that, and I’m proud of them,” Walker-Weinstein said.
Entering the second frame, BC only extended its dominance, ravaging through the Wildcats’ defense as they ruthlessly fired shots on the net.
Just 26 seconds in, Clark recorded her 13th goal of the season off an Abbey Herod draw control. Just two minutes later, within a 54-second span, the Eagles delivered two more goals from a LoPinto free-position shot and another Driscoll goal.
It seemed like the game couldn’t have been off to a better start for the Eagles, but Northwestern eventually started to chip away at the Eagles’ defensive stronghold.
Before halftime, the Wildcats managed to turn a 6–0 BC lead into a four-goal deficit, as slowly but surely, Madison Taylor’s scoring capabilities became evident.
Nonetheless, BC’s defense, anchored by captain Shea Baker, persisted.
“We’ve got ridiculous athletes back there,” Walker-Weinstein said. “I mean, Shea Baker is probably one of the best athletes that I’ve ever coached in my life, and she is back there leading the team.”
The Eagles went scoreless for nearly 30 minutes, as Northwestern attempted to play a game of catchup.
Even though the Wildcats brought the score within two goals with the scoreboard reading 11–9 at 3:29 left in the game, BC’s defense held down the fort, giving BC its second consecutive win against its cross-conference rivals.
“I think they were attacking the defense with confidence, and I just wished that we could have continued to extend the lead, but against Northwestern and against Kelly, you are unlikely to do that because they are so good,” Walker-Weinstein said. “I am so proud of our team for having a good start.”
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