No. 1 Boston College lacrosse is no stranger to making history. And against No. 4 Stanford, the Eagles did just that.
By winning its 20th straight game, BC now has its longest win streak in school history.
But this win wasn’t just handed to the Eagles. In fact, they were up against a Stanford team that hasn’t lost at home since February 2023 and that currently has its best ranking in school history.
Yet the Eagles (12–0, 5–0 Atlantic Coast) did what is expected of BC lacrosse—winning and winning big, as they coasted past the Cardinal (9–2, 3–2) 17–9 at Cagan Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
It didn’t take long at all for BC to make a dent in the Cardinal defense. Just one minute into the game, Emma LoPinto scored her 39th goal of the season off an Elizabeth Kirk feed.
LoPinto was just getting started, though, as she already had a hat trick a little less than seven minutes into the matchup.
Maria Themelis then followed suit a little over four minutes later, as a Mckenna Davis ground ball pick-up converted into another BC goal for a 2–0 lead.
Just as the Eagles did in their February matchup against Northwestern, they started off hot, taking a quick 6–0 lead. It felt like the game was slipping away from Stanford before it even really began.
What defined the early-game offensive success for the Eagles was their wins on the draw and their ability to hammer down on Stanford’s defense, with one of the nation’s best goaltenders, Lucy Pearson, could only do so much.
Eventually, Martha Oakey got the first points on the board for the Cardinal with 5:51 left to play in the first frame. But Kirk would soon strike back, as the score stood at 7–2 heading into the second frame.
But Rachel Clark wasn’t done yet. Just 44 seconds into the next quarter, she scored her 53rd goal of the season.
While it appeared that BC had taken the reins, the Cardinal would not go down without a fight. Slowly but surely, a Stanford comeback appeared to be in the works. With just six minutes left until the half, Stanford had managed to diminish BC’s lead to just four goals.
With just 11 seconds left before the end of the second frame, Shea Dolce came up with a big save. Denying Aliya Polisky’s free-position shot, Dolce would shift the game’s trajectory back in BC’s favor.
From that point on, the Eagles never looked back, entering the half with a six-goal lead.
Their defense served as an anchor, along with Dolce, shutting down any Stanford offensive attack and holding Stanford scoreless throughout the entire third frame.
While Stanford started the final frame with two back-to-back goals, it wouldn’t be nearly enough to come close to BC’s lead.
Tallying the last goal for BC was freshman Giulia Colarusso off a lower left-hand corner free-position shot that went through the legs of Pearson.
From then on, it was clear that BC’s undefeated ACC campaign would only continue.
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