Another week and another Boston College team is headed to a national final in Denver. This one may not have received as much attention as the hockey team's impressive run, but the women's club lacrosse team has qualified for the national tournament in Denver May 7 to 12 by taking the New England Women's Lacrosse League crown with a 14-8 victory over the University of Connecticut.
On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, Newton Campus became not just a sight for broken freshman dreams, but also for an impressive display of lacrosse. The women's club lacrosse team rushed the carpeted field filled with the joy of an undefeated regular season and the opportunity to travel across the country to play for the national title.
From the opening faceoff, the Eagles were able to set the tempo by using good ball movement that provided the melody and tenacious defense to supply the rhythm. It looked as if UConn was going to take the early lead, but the Eagles were able to break up all scoring chances, including a two-on-one fast break. Then, Allie Fishbone was able to strike for BC on a rebound goal to give the Eagles the lead early on. Fishbone would garner a hat trick, all her goals coming in the first half, as the Eagles stretched out to a comfortable 5-1 lead.
However, there was still plenty of fight left in the Huskies, as a few capitalized turnovers resulted in only a 6-4 lead for the Eagles at the half. Coach Gina Riitano felt no reason to panic, however, and said that she "didn't feel we needed to make any adjustments." She added, "We just had to play our game." It was a great level of confidence for the first-year coach, but their second-half performance showed why Riitano shouldn't have had any reason to think otherwise. The Eagles came storming out of the gates in the second half, and Sarah Quick scored right off the opening faceoff.
Freshman Kiara Blough scored three of her four goals in the second half and helped make the Eagles' dreams of making it to Denver a reality. Millie Blease also had a superb defensive effort, causing three turnovers, intercepting a pass, and streaking down the field and netting a back-breaking goal that made the game 11-5 and seemingly out of reach.
The Huskies had one last push
in their system, however, and closed the gap to 12-8 with just about four minutes left in the game. But the Eagles weren't going to let their Mile High dreams be squandered when they had come so close. One final run led by Blough and Quick would bring the game to its final score of 14-8 and book the Eagles a trip to the Rocky Mountains.
"These girls really deserve it," Riitano said. "With our team, academics come first. It really is a special group of girls." As they move on to the national championship, they will be playing the part of the Cinderella.
Although they went undefeated and won their conference, the Eagles will find themselves as the No. 16 seed, forced to play a strong University of California Santa Barbara squad. Yet there's no reason to think this group can't pull it off, because so far all they've done is win.
Spring Break
