Women's Lax Hammers Duke To Reach 7th Straight ACC Semifinal
Complete and utter dominance is the only way to describe BC's 19-5 beat down of Duke on Thursday night in the ACC quarterfinals.
BC (14-3) will now face Notre Dame in a rematch of last year's semi at 8 PM on Friday. The Eagles beat the Fighting Irish in both the ACC semis and the NCAA quarterfinals last year before losing this season by a goal on Red Bandana Day.
BC led Duke 11-3 at halftime on Thursday and dominated in every statistical category, including shots (40-13) and draws (20-15).
Rachel Clark led the way with four goals and Emma LoPinto, Kayla. Martello and Belle Smith all had hat tricks. McKenna Davis and Cassidy Weeks each added two while Molly Driscoll and Kit Arrix also scored. It was just the second goal of the season for Arrix, who's a senior. Maddy Manahan finished off the last 7:25 in net after Shea Dolce had to make just five saves in net.
"I just think from top to bottom we executed everything we wanted to," said Hunter Roman, who was a force all over the field defensively and in the ground ball game. "It's just a really good, fell good win."
"It was a very good, connected team win," added Davis.
This one was over within the first 15 minutes as BC led 4-2 after one, but it felt much worse. The Blue Devils had seven turnovers and the Eagles dominated possession.
With 10:03 to go in the second BC got a big scare when Weeks - who is arguably the team's most important player from a leadership standpoint - appeared to badly injure her wrist on a hard play going to the cage.
After staying down for a bit she walked off the field, got taped up and returned. Before that, Clark scored on what turned into a woman-up opportunity on the play.
Minutes later, Weeks was back on the field and made a leaping, one-handed interception on a pass near midfield with her now bad wrist/arm. Clark soon went through three defenders and scored to make it an 8-2 game while netting her hat trick. Ryan Smith continued dominating draws and a diving goal from Smith made it 9-2 late in the half.
Weeks scored on a shot coming around from X and LoPinto made it 11-3 and it was on cruise control in the second half.
"I just think Cassidy embodies everything that every single person on this team wants to be," said Roman. "She's the hardest worker on our team on and off the field, always going the extra mile. I think just seeing that, we all kind of rallied around the fact that Cassidy went down. You never want to see someone go down, but especially Cassidy who is the hardest working player on our team and then she goes and makes this crazy interception. I think it was just inspiring. We knew we had to have her back after that."
"She really is inspiring to watch and to play with and I think we all kind of look up to Cass," added Davis. "We embody her and want to be just like her. She did that (the interception) by going hard which is what we all admire. I think when she went down, Ryan Smith was like 'ok, let's finish the ball for her and score for Cassidy because she went to cage so, so hard."
Cruise control didn't necessarily mean foot off the gas though, as the Eagles' starters played deep into the fourth quarter. This time of year, building good habits and that continued momentum is paramount to success.
"You need all those moments," Acacia Walker-Weinstein said. "There's no moments that don't matter. So, the seconds at the end of the game, the possessions at the end of the game, all those over time add up to practice and preparation. So, we really try to stay focused in those moments because we need those moments if we're going to try and win it all."
When BC faces a familiar foe on Friday night and a chance to return to the ACC title game on the line, it'll be about nothing else but execution, which is why finishing off Duke in the fashion they did was so important.
"I think that's an element, who wants it more, but truthfully, we're just going to have to play a better lacrosse game than Notre Dame to win," added Walker-Weinstein.