NEWTON - Playing on Memorial Day weekend has become an automatic part of the schedule for BC women's lax over the last seven years.

Thanks to an 11-goal first half, some key saves by Shea Dolce and stout defense late, BC punched its ticket to the Final Four for a ridiculous seventh straight season on Thursday evening in front of close to 2,000 fans with a 14-9 win over Michigan.

BC (18-3) will face ACC rival Syracuse yet again on May 24th. Florida and defending champ Northwestern will play in the other semifinal.

The Eagles hit multiple posts in the game and committed just six fouls while the Wolverines had 23. The Eagles won the shots battle (29-20) and the draws (15-12). Rachel Clark - who came to BC for this kind of moment - was fantastic with four goals.

"It's more than I envisioned when I came here," Clark said with a huge smile. "Even from warmups, I knew it was going to be a good offensive game. I think over the course of the season we've just started to connect so well and every single person on our offense is such a threat, you can't focus on one person because the other is going to strike.

"I think we're finally just using all our weapons, playing together and it's so much fun. Everyone's awesome."

For head coach Aacacia Walker-Weinstein - who continues to cement her legacy as one of the best college coaches in the country - in any sport - it's a familiar, but still a surreal feeling to be in this position again.

"It definitely feels different," she said. "The teams are different every year. The stories are different. The personalities are different. I think we just have to figure out top to bottom what we need to do differently and better than last year. Past success doesn't guarantee future success and past failure doesn't guarantee future failure.

"I think we're just going to stay focused on the next week and getting better, figuring out how we can all be a little better and all dig a little deeper. Because here we are again playing Syracuse and we're going to try and be better so we're a little different and unpredictable. I know the girls will do just that...but yeah, it's different."

The Eagles led 6-2 after one quarter and 11-4 at halftime. McKenna Davis, Cassidy Weeks, Belle Smith, Emma LoPinto, Kayla Martello (hat trick) and Clark all scored in a nearly flawless opening frame.

After Michigan scored the first goal of the second, Martello, Clark (2), Weeks and Andrea Reynolds all scored to make it 11-3. The Wolverines did score with 21 seconds left in the half, but a buzzer-beating save by Dolce (10 total) kept the momentum with the Eagles heading to the locker room.

"I'd say there's a different feel," Dolce said after experiencing this as a freshman in 2023. "We have such a special group this year and I think we're really cherishing each day we have to spend with each other. Knowing that we earned another day is something that we've focused on all playoffs.

"That feeling's amazing and now it's just going to get us more fired up for what's to come."

The Wolverines refused to go quietly, winning the draw battle 5-1 during the third quarter and outscoring BC 3-2 to make things a bit interesting at 13-7 heading to the fourth. Things could have been much tighter if not for a key stop by Dolce at the start of the quarter and a huge defensive stand in the final seconds. Davis and Clark had the lone Eagles' goals in the frame.

Defense still wins championships and BC and Dolce locked it down in the fourth, giving up a goal a minute in and then not again until the final 30 seconds when it was already out of reach. A goal inside from Martello with 12:34 left was the dagger to make it 14-8.

Defensive coordinator Jen Kent never stops yelling or demanding excellence from her unit for the entirety of the game. Right down to some of the final possessions, she was hard on her players.

That intensity and Kent's incredible knowledge of the game is a huge reason why BC is where they are again this season.

"Jen is an incredible leader," said Walker-Weinstein. "She has incredible experiences in her life. She knows how to lead young women. She knows the game very well, but also she's like the queen adjuster. I think a lot of coaching is adjusting, and Jen has three or four plans for each potential scenario. She's ready for it and she gets the girls ready for it.

"Jen really is an extraordinary defensive coordinator."

Now, the Eagles turn their eyes to a very familiar foe looking for a seventh straight appearance in the national title game. I jokingly asked Coach if she even needed to watch film on the Orange.

She was starting about two hours after the game.

"Oh my God, we are going to not stop watching film. We will watch film starting in two hours," she added with a laugh. "No, but, every second matters. We've got to figure out...I know Kayla (Treanor) and I know she's going to have those guys working hard.

"So, we just hope that we work harder. We can only control what we can control. I know these girls are hungry. It's a special group with a special group of seniors and the experiences these guys have...it's wild to think about what the senior class has done. I know they'll lead the way the way they did today and the way they have all season. That's the trust I have and it makes me feel confident."