CHESTNUT HILL - Survive and advance.
After a while off since the ACC title game loss, BC's offense came out flying with five first quarter goals.
The rest of the game was an absolute grind.
Stony Brook played good defense, capitalized on opportunities late and put quite a scare into the 1, 283 on hand Sunday morning in Alumni Stadium.
In the end, Shea Dolce did her usual playoff thing and the offense did just enough to escape with a 10-7 win.
The second-seeded Eagles (18-2) host Yale in Newton at 5 p.m. on Thursday with an eight straight NCAA Final 4 appearance on the line down at Gillette.
"Stony Brook's really good. They're a really good team," head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein said. "I think our girls hung around in the end and found a way to win, which is really important because of the history of the season we've kind of had.
"We haven't had too many opportunities to do that, so to be able to do that...to be able to dig in and both units - including the draw unit - so, offense, defense and draw unit, found different moments of digging deep and finding a way to make.a play.
"That's what we've been focused on. That's what we've been talking about. That's what I'm most happy about."
Rachel Clark led the way with four goals, pushing her NCAA-leading total to 95 on the year. Emma LoPinto added a hat trick and Mia Macone, Devon Russel and Kylee Colbert all scored once.
The story for BC (as usual this time of year) was Dolce. The junior continues to stack incredible playoff performances on top of one another, coming up with nine huge saves. Dolce made maybe one or two that were 'simple' saves by elite D1 standards, but the rest were either ridiculously athletic or incredibly timely.
Leading 8-3 in the third with about 7:00 to go, her first big sequence came on a backdoor look by Stony Brook, sliding over with cat-like reflexes to make the stop. Seconds later, she found herself in a 1-on-1 with a Seawolves' shooter after.a turnover and denied her as well.
Following a third quarter dominated by Stony Brook and cloning to a fading 8-6 lead with 9:00 left, BC forced a shot clock violation but immediately turned it over. Dolce bailed them out with another stop on a shot from in tight.
Her finale came with 6:00 remaining, going low to stop a diving shot that was aimed five-hole just. Less than two minutes later, Clark scored on a free position to make it 9-6. Stony Brook did cut it back to two, but Clark scored on an empty net with 51 seconds remaining to seal it.
"I think the kind of game that it was, it's just 'the next stop at a time," Dolce said of the mentality in big situations. "Just, always in the back of my mind wanting to get the offense the ball. The more they get the ball the more they're able to score. So, in that situation too (1-v-1) it's like, the offense is supposed to score, so it's my time to steal the spotlight.
"I live for moments like that. I think that's the electric part of being a goalie. Being able to steal those shots from the players and just...those are the saves that you want to make. think, kind of just always have the offense in my mind. Always wanting them to get the ball and always having my defense's back."
So now, one win away from spending Memorial Day weekend in Foxborough, the Eagles aren't shying away from making sure the unique opportunity is captured.
They also understand the story isn't automatically written.
"Playoffs are special. but we talk a lot about last year's team is last year's team," LoPinto said when asked about seeing themselves at the start of the Selection Sunday Show. "It's a privilege to make the tournament and to get one more day with each other. We're taking it in and we're not taking anything for granted."
"It's so awesome," Walker-Weinstein added on the chance to possibly play at home for a title. "It's just a carrot. It's like another carrot to want to get there."
(Full press conference here and photos below)
