No. 6 Women's Lax Beats No. 2 Syracuse in OT Ahead of ACC Tournament
CHESTNUT HILL - Following BC's thrilling, cold, wet and important overtime win over Syracuse on Thursday night at Alumni, BC goalie Shea Dolce was swarmed by a few dozen kids hoping to get a picture or autograph.
They all did.
Dolce's been one of the faces of the team since exploding on the scene as a freshman last season and the sophomore had the biggest play of the game just seconds before Cassidy Weeks scored in overtime to give the Eagles a wild 11-10 win.
Dolce made a point-plank stick save on a shot from about five yards away in the final minute of the first 3:00 OT period. Head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein called a timeout in the final 30 seconds and Weeks somehow snuck open amongst three Cuse defenders. Emma LoPinto threaded the needle, seemingly placing the ball in Weeks' stick and she finished for a game-winning hat trick while going to the ground before being mobbed by her teammates.
The win capped the regular season at 13-3 and 7-2 in the ACC. The Eagles are the third seed as the defending ACC champs and will play No. 5 Duke in the quarterfinals next Wednesday (4/24) down in Charlotte, NC
"I've watched so much film and prepared so much," she said. "I just relied on that and honestly, I didn't see that she was open. I just turned, made a save, cleared it out and did exactly what our team wanted to. The defense wants to get the ball to the offense and give them the opportunity to score.
"That's what we did."
The weather certainly played a factor for both teams, but so did the defense and goaltending. Dolce finished with six saves while 'Cuse goalie Delaney Sweitzer made 10. The Eagles also caused 15 turnovers while committing 12. BC won the most important stat in bad weather, the ground ball game (17-7).
"It's a really good zone," Walker-Weinstein said of the relentless Syracuse defense. "I think the offense actually was working, it's just like, we've got to continue to focus on shooting. If we had put some of those early shots away, I think we would have been fine. It's a good zone. They run the best zone in the country I think.I mean, what'd we finish with, 12? 11?
"Syracuse has seven lethal attackers and so, we needed all seven (defenders plus Shea). They just needed to be a little more disruptive and less reactive than we have been in the past and they did exactly that. That's what it takes to beat seven really incredible lacrosse players."
BC trailed 5-3 at the half and 7-6 heading to the fourth. LoPinto put BC up 8-7 early in the fourth before Cuse went back up 9-8. Rachel Clark scored to make it 9-9 and Cuse took the lead with 3:42 remaining.
Clark finished her hat trick in the fourth quarter with the tying goal to make it 10-10 with 1:27 remaining. BC won the ensuing draw on a big ground ball battle and called TO with 1:07 remaining, but couldn't convert on the final possession.
Cuse won the draw in OT, setting up Dolce's dramatic save and Weeks' clutch finish.
After last year's wild regular season finale and then the tug-of-war in the postseason, beating Syracuse in what could have been the final home game of the year meant that much more as the Eagles turn their attention to the ACC tournament and trying to defend the program's first title a year ago.
"This was kind of the game we'd been looking forward to all season," she said. "We've had some tough losses and we haven't hit our stride yet. I think we needed this game to show who we are, what BC lacrosse is. I think we needed this momentum going into the ACC tournament."
"I just told them to play like champions. We can't wait to feel like a champion after a game. You have to play like a champion," added Walker-Weinstein. "I just told them to focus because we've been having some focus issues. Just draw their attention to little details that are going to matter and I think they just did a great job.
"The leadership is incredible. The leadership in the huddles is incredible. I often just sit back and let the leaders talk...we've been talking a lot about resiliency...we have such a dominant senior class that I think they've just been in those moments before and they really don't lose their composure. They're really cool and calm and I love that."
