Being a freshman with a ton of hype is hard enough to handle.

Being a freshman on a team with a veteran, championship-winning goalie in front of you is even harder.

Beating out that veteran and ultimately helping to lead your team to a regular season ACC title is downright unheard of.

Shea Dolce may have been the top goalie recruit in the country before she arrived at Boston College, but it doesn't change the fact she's still just a kid trying to navigate her way around campus and the Division 1 athlete lifestyle for the first time, yet she's done it and made it look remarkably easy in the process.

Dolce took over the starting role roughly midway through the year after head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein had been platooning both her and Rachel Hall. BC is currently on a seven-game win streak as the ACC tournament quarterfinals begin on Wednesday. Dolce is 5th in the ACC with 9.02 GA per game and fifth in save percentage (.471) while 5.47 saves per game. Walker-Weinstein has seen plenty of talent throughout her time around the game, but nothing has impressed her like Dolce's freshman season has.

"No. I have not," she said emphatically on Zoom Monday morning when asked if she's ever seen a freshman adapt this quickly. "It's the first time I've ever seen such a dominant performance at such a critical position, such an individual position. It's a position where you are...as much as you're integrated to our defense, you're alone. You're the last layer. For a freshman to come in and do what she's doing at the level she's doing it at, against the teams we're playing against is remarkable. I hope she gets recognized for it."

As for Hall, obviously the situation can't be easy, but with so much experience in big games this time of year, she can now help provide Dolce with that knowledge as the games get bigger and bigger.

"Rachel will continue to mentor her and continue to be positive," said Walker-Weinstein. "Rachel's been an incredible teammate. She's sharing her knowledge all the time with Shea, with the team. Rachel's a competitor and she wants to win. You can't turn that off just because she's off the field."

If BC is going to bring home the program's first ACC championship this week and then another national championship in a month or so, Dolce's high level of play coupled with Hall's support is going to be critical.

"Shea reminds me a little bit of Jenn Medjid. She's out there every day with shooters getting extra shots, going early, staying late. Studying film with her teammates. Constantly understanding the way the defense is developing," Walker-Weinstein added.

"Shea has been incredible and I think the reason she's turned it on so much is because she's a competitor, she works really hard and she's believing in herself and her teammates."