What was expected to be an early blowout for No. 1 BC lacrosse began as something rather unique—a standstill.
While BC did narrowly lose 15–14 to then-No. 8 Notre Dame last season before defeating them 9–7 in the ACC Championship semifinal, it’s been 329 days since the Eagles have lost a matchup.
And it wasn’t going to come against the No. 22 Fighting Irish.
Even though the Eagles did not score their first goal until 6:35 into the first frame, and Notre Dame would soon knot up the score just under a minute later, BC’s offense started to heat up. And never looked back.
What kept the Fighting Irish in the game though was not their offense but rather their goaltender: Isabel Pithie. Denying several of Rachel Clark’s shots, the country’s leading goal-scorer, Pithie was the only thing keeping Notre Dame in the game for some time.
“We just needed to shoot better,” BC head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein said. “She’s a great goalie, but I think we needed to work a little bit harder to find easier shots.”
But ultimately, Pithie’s heroics would not be enough to stop the Irish’s bleeding, as BC (8–0, 3–0 Atlantic Coast) defeated Notre Dame (3–4, 0–3) 15–9 in South Bend, Ind. on Saturday afternoon.
“I’m really happy that we came out with the win,” Walker-Weinstein said. “Again, I still think we need to string together more consistent plays from one end to the other and put a 60 minute game together.”
Entering the second frame with a one-goal lead, BC was searching for an opportunity to extend its dominance. And thanks to Emma LoPinto, Clark, Mia Mascone, and Brooke McCloy that would soon happen.
Just 58 seconds into the second quarter, Clark opened up the scoring by receiving a Mascone feed, dodging past her defender and firing the ball into the back of the Irish’s net. She was just getting started.
Off of two consecutive free position shots, Mascone and LoPinto delivered two more goals for the Eagles, as LoPinto went on to have five goals in the matchup.
“I think the seven players out there are creating a lot of momentum, and I think they are learning to play really hard for each other,” Walker-Weinstein said. “All seven of them have critical roles, and we have to get better if we want to continue to win, so that’s what we are going to focus on this week.”
It didn’t seem like a Fighting Irish comeback was in the works though until the fourth quarter, as Notre Dame slowly chipped away from a seven-goal to a four-goal deficit within minutes.
But that didn’t faze Shea Dolce and co. Instead, that may have just ignited them.
“It was a defensive battle all game long, and the defense was standing tall,” Dolce said. “We knew we had to make a stop each time the ball came down and just stayed locked in.”
As time winded down, so did Notre Dame’s chances at knotting the score, as BC cruised past the Fighting Irish with a 15–9 victory.
When asked about what changed the trajectory of the game, Walker-Weinstein praised her draw team.
“I was really happy with how we controlled the draw,” Walker-Weinstein said. “I thought Abbey Herrod was amazing today, and I thought Shea Baker and Lydia were unbelievable. The draw team was spectacular, and I thought it was the best part of the day.”
And Dolce also kept it simple when talking about her team’s improvement going forward.
“We need to keep our foot on the gas pedal the whole game,” Dolce said. “That’s something that we have been working on all season long.”
Leave a Reply