Shea Dolce slid up a spot in the Boston College lacrosse record book on Thursday afternoon, securing 572 career saves—the second most in program history—as gentle snow fell over Alumni Stadium.
Dolce’s eight saves, Molly Driscoll’s four points, and Marissa White’s fourth hat trick of the season led No. 17 BC (4–4, 3–2 Atlantic Coast) to a 15–5 win over Harvard (1–5, 0–2 Ivy League) in the Eagles’ final non-conference game until March 30. BC has won four of its last five games after starting the season 0–3 for the first time since 1999.
“We’ve gone through a lot of ups and downs this season, but [we’ve been] learning to stay positive, find the good in things, and kind of just continue to encourage … everyone on the team to keep putting their best food forward and doing what they can to continue to take this program in the right direction,” Dolce said.
BC will face Pittsburgh less than 48 hours after the win. Then, the Eagles have a week until what may be their toughest game of the season: a road matchup against No. 1 North Carolina.
“We have a ton of confidence,” Dolce said. “I think our coaching staff just does an amazing job preparing us for these moments, preparing us for the quick back-to-backs, and then we have a whole week to prepare for UNC.”
The Crimson fell behind quickly in the first quarter as goalkeeper Emma Barkauskas, who had not yet started a game this season, gave up seven goals on 12 BC shots. Giulia Colarusso scored her team-leading 17th goal of the season 2:21 into the action, and the rest of the quarter proved disastrous for Harvard.
“We have to treat every game like it’s the biggest of the season,” Dolce said. “We were looking to put the pieces together a little more than we have this season, so it was just a lot of excitement. We were really prepared and just knew we had to come out firing on all cylinders.”
Driscoll hit White for the Eagles’ second goal of the game. Shortly after, Driscoll found Kylee Colbert, who pulled a quick spin move on her defender and shot it home to put BC up 3–0 with 9:43 left in the opening frame. By the time the quarter ended, the Eagles had built a 7–0 lead.
The second quarter was an entirely different story, though. Both teams scored one goal, as the Eagles shot three balls on net, six fewer than in the first frame. BC’s sole goal came on a woman-up goal from Hanna Davis, marking her eighth score of the season.
The Eagles committed five turnovers in the second quarter after turning it over only once in the first, giving Harvard more chances to attack Dolce. The senior goalkeeper finally let one through with 3:03 remaining in the half, and BC headed into the break with an 8–1 lead.
Harvard struck first in the third quarter, as Lexie Koch netted a goal 2:13 in. BC returned to its first-quarter dominance through the rest of the period, though, outscoring the Crimson 4–0. Two of BC’s goals came on free-position shots, and the Eagles headed into the final frame up 12–2.
Harvard finished with 10 penalties, and BC scored five free-position goals.
BC’s 10-goal lead heading into the final quarter meant that the game would be played with a running clock—unless the Crimson could cut the lead to single digits. Harvard was able to do that multiple times, putting up three goals for its highest-scoring quarter of the game.
The Crimson scored two goals in 1:26, cutting BC’s lead to 12–4 with 7:12 to play. White and Colarusso quickly responded with two goals for the Eagles, though, stretching the lead back to 10.
Koch scored on a free-position shot with 3:51 left, and Avery Hudson took advantage of a woman-up situation to put a final point on the board for BC and close the game 15–5.
“I just think we’re really starting to build a lot of chemistry together—we’re really able to move the ball and work it on the offensive end,” White said. “And defense, they’ve really settled down and also built a lot of chemistry and trust, which I think is showing up on the field.”
