No. 1 Women's Lax Loses National Championship Rematch
CHESTNUT HILL - Nine months after squaring off for the national championship, No. 1 BC and No. 3 Northwestern met in a title game rematch on Thursday.
A massive crowd just under 2,000 were in attendance) braved frigid temps in Newton to watch the Eagles and Wildcats go at it, with Northwestern prevailing 14-11 in a back-and-forth affair.
The loss was the first of the season for BC after outscoring its first five opponents 94-24. Northwestern improved to to 4-1 overall and now have BC's number, winning three straight matchups after also winning a nail-biter in the regular season last year.
Rachel Clark led BC with five goals and an assist. Kayla Martellio added two with an assist. Shea Dolce made six saves in net. For Northwestern, superstar Izzy Scane had five goals while Newburyport's own Molly Laliberty had some ridiculous point blank saves throughout the evening, finishing with six.
"We were prepared for an amazing test and we were tested," said BC head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein. "There were some good things and some things that were not so good, but that's a really strong team. I think we were really resilient towards the end, but I think we lacked some of that urgency in the beginning of the game.
"But, I did see a lot of good things. We'll work on those things and sharpen up some of the problem areas and we'll be back. We have a really tough stretch ahead."
BC was sloppy early and couldn't convert on a handful of possessions while Northwestern sprinted out to a 3-0 lead eight minutes in. Martellio scored twice on back-to-back possessions to cut it to 4-2, but the Wildcats built a 7-2 lead after one.
Northwestern won seven draws in the first 15 minutes, but that changed in the second when Abbey Herod started taking them, she finished with 11 DC's for the day. But, more importantly, she sparked BC early in the second and goals from Clark and Emma LoPinto cut it to 8-4. The Eagles got another quick-stick goal from Clark on a feed from McKenna Davis with 8:16 left in the half to make it 8-5, but that was all the scoring either team did until halftime.
"It's a problem," Walker-Weinstein said of the team's turnovers (16 total). "We're going to continue to pay close attention to it and our girls are really committed to it. i think we're just trying to balance the risks that we need to take along with ball security. We just have to get a little bit better so we can play at a higher level."
Northwestern opened the third quarter with two goals to push the lead to 10-6 before another Clark goal. The Wildcats answered again, but a free position laser from Cassidy Weeks kept BC within four. Unfortunately for the Eagles, another Northwestern goal and two huge saves in the final few seconds to keep the score at 12-7 heading to the fourth.
Martellio found Clark for a goal to open the fourth, but as they did all day Northwestern had a response to go back up by five. LoPinto finished a dish from Clark with 6:45 to go, but Scane potted one about a minute later.
In the final 4:29 both Shea Baker and Clark scored, but it was too little too late as Northwestern ran out the remainder of the clock.
This in no way shape or form hurts BC's chances at making another run to the national title game - a game they've appeared in for six straight seasons - but if and when these two teams meet again, there may be that slight mental hurdle the Eagles will need to get over when seeing the purple and white jerseys on the other end of the field.
It's never good to lose when your expectation is perfection, but it's better now than in May.
"We look at wins and losses the same way. We don't really skip the bad when we win, so we'll learn from the test in every position and in every strategy and every scheme," added Walker-Weinstein. "Hopefully, we'll be better for it."