With its seven-game winning streak on the line, BC took the first step towards the program's first ACC title on Wednesday morning, hammering Duke 15-7 in the first ACC quarterfinal game.

The Eagles got four goals from Jenn Medjid and three from Belle Smith while dominating possession thanks in large part to Ryan Smith's performance when battling the best to ever do it in Maddie Jenner, who is the all-time leader in the NCAA for draw controls. Smith ended up winning 16 draws. Shea Dolce wasn't tested a ton, but made six big saves in the win.

BC is now 14-3 and will face either Notre Dame or Virginia in one of two semifinal games on Friday (1 P.M.).

"We didn't quite ever get into our rhythm, but I was happy we had nine different scorers" said head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein. "They were sharing the ball really well, which is always good against a really tough defense. I'm happy about that. I'm happy the defense had a spectacular first half, giving the offense all of their opportunities and I think we played a good draw game.

"Again, not a complete game from our girls, but we'll get back on track."

Exactly one minute in Medjid got things going with a great roll dodge and finish on the crease. With just under 10 minutes left in the first, Andrea Reynolds scored with a laser up high after a shooting space infraction. After Duke got on the board, Sydney Scales - known more for her defense than offense - dodged a defender near midfield and then went straight to the cage. No one collapsed on her, so she buried a shot for her first goal of the season. Moments later, Kayla Martello made it 4-1, forcing an early Duke timeout. The Blue Devils made it 4-2 as BC couldn't convert on other free position opportunities until Belle Smith put the Eagles back up by three with a cut to the front of the crease. McKenna Davis found her with a great feed and Smith quickly put it home.

With Smith handling the draws and the defense forcing everything outside or better yet, shot clock violations, Medjid pushed it to 6-2 with a sick lefty rip and Cassidy Weeks followed with a five-hole lefty shot of her own to make it 7-2 early in the second.

"Huge credit to her, she's obviously one of the best draw takers in the country and to ever do it," said Ryan Smith. "I would say our game plan is to always go in as a unit. It's a three-person game no matter where the ball is, we go in threes and that's kind of our identity and always been our identity at BC with the draw. So, we know if it's three vs. one, we just have to take her out. Again, no matter who we go against, three vs. one, three vs. three, it doesn't matter, we'll take on anyone."

"She was great," Walker-Weinstein added. "I think it's a really good matchup between her and Jenner. She (Ryan) she just stayed really focused on the different nuances of what her strategy was going to be throughout the game. She was incredibly focused. I'm so proud of Ryan. That's a tall task to try and win the draw game against Duke and she did a fantastic job today."

Davis made it 8-2 after taking a pass from Reynolds behind goal line extended and pushing the ball to the cage before stuffing it home. After another Duke goal, Kayla Martello let a bounce shot go on the run that stuck in the top left corner to make it a 9-3 game with five minutes to go in the half, prompting the Blue Devils to make a goalie change.

Duke answered again and forced a shot clock violation in the final two minutes of the half, but BC kept the Blue Devils off the board and carried the 9-4 lead into halftime.

The teams were scoreless until 6:53 remained in the third quarter when Jenner potted a goal for Duke, cutting it to 9-5. Annabelle Hasselbeck had an eight-meter opportunity and got lucky when it was deflected by a defender and sort of knuckled in to put BC back up by five. It was the first goal for the Eagles in over 15 minutes of game action. Duke took a yellow card with 3:09 left in the quarter and Belle Smith capitalized on the advantage to make it 11-5. In the final 10 seconds, Courtney Weeks was wide open on the crease coming off a pick and Smith found her for an easy quick-stick goal, giving BC the seven-goal lead heading to the fourth.

Clearly frustrated, Duke was given a yellow card early in the final frame and Smith made it hurt, potting her hat trick goal after weaving through defenders to put BC up by eight. Medjid made it 14-5 soon after with another impressive lefty laser that went five-hole. Duke scored, but Medjid's fourth on five shots while she was falling down quickly pushed it back to 15-6.

Dolce was forced to make a few big saves as Duke continued to push with its season on the line and despite not seeing much action, the freshman kept elevating her game like she has all season.

"It's tough," she said. "When you see a lot of shots you can really get in the zone, but when you go multiple minutes without seeing the ball it obviously makes it difficult. I give credit to the defense. When Duke comes down they're very good offensively, but the defense gave me the shots I wanted to see so, credit to them."

"I think it just speaks to her focus," said Walker-Weinstein. "I would be surprised if anyone prepares as hard as Shea, so I think when things don't go perfect, you just rely on your preparation. You rely on yourself and don't bail on how good you are or what your tactics are. She prepares so well that I think it allows her to get back on track and make those saves. Spectacular performance and I'm so proud. She makes me feel so confident and the team so confident."

To their credit, the Blue Devils refused to go quietly, scoring three straight - including one after a yellow card on BC - to make things a little interesting at 15-9 with 6:13 left. It was similar to the first meeting on February 25 when BC led 12-4 and watched the lead shrink to 12-8 before eventually pulling away. Duke actually cut it to 15-10 but the goal was called off for a wild crease violation rule with just over four minutes remaining. BC killed the remainder of the clock from there to lock up a date in the semifinals.

"I think a lot of people say BC is a postseason team, which is exciting, we want to be a full season team, but to know that's in the back of our head, I think everyone just elevates their game," added Belle Smith. "That was the first time we elevated our game today (in a postseason setting), but we're already ready in two days. Even tomorrow in practice, it's going to keep getting higher and higher."

"If we came in today and didn't get better, there's no way we're going to win (the title) on Sunday," added Ryan Smith. "We take every moment we get as an opportunity to get better."