Lax Out Of ACC Tourney

It was too little, too late for the women’s lacrosse team on Friday, as Virginia (11-6) knocked Boston College (8-8), out of the ACC Tournament in the first round. With eight minutes left in the first half, the Eagles trailed 8-1. They made a strong push after that to get back into the game, but were ultimately dealt a 13-8 loss by the Cavaliers.

“We challenged this team to start going harder to goal, to question things less as to whether they could or could not do something and to trust their instincts,” said head coach Bowen Holden. “And on top of that, we had to take care of the ball, which was not happening earlier in the game.”

Virginia jumped out to an early 4-0 lead over BC, before junior Brooke Blue finally put her team on the scoreboard with 15:41 left in the half. The goal was Blue’s 34th of the year, as freshman Covie Stanwick assisted on the tally by finding an open Blue in front of the net.

After that, though, the Cavaliers once again scored four more unanswered goals to stretch their lead to 8-1 eight minutes before halftime.

Freshman Mikaela Rix added two goals of her own before the end of the frame, making it a five-goal deficit for BC at the midway mark.

At the start of the second, Virginia scored the first goal, but the Eagles showed some life with three goals to make it 9-6, the closest they had been all day. The goals came from Stanwick, Kristin Igoe, and Brittany Wilton, as BC trailed by just three with over 23 minutes still left to play in the game.

That was as close as the Eagles would get to the Cavaliers, though, as the higher seed responded just under two minutes later with Julie Gardner’s fifth goal of the game. Another goal from Josie Owen made it 11-6 with 18 minutes to play, which seemingly shutdown any chance of a BC comeback.

Minutes later, Wilton found Stanwick for her second goal of the game, but Virginia would respond next again on a goal by Katie Slater off a free position shot.

Igoe added one more goal for BC with five minutes remaining, but Gardner had the last say with her sixth and final goal of the day, making it a 13-8 final.

“Their defense was great today,” Stanwick said of Virginia. “We just didn’t adjust enough to come out with a win.”

The Eagles had the upper hand statistically, winning the shot and draw control advantage, 28-26 and 13-10, respectively. But the Cavaliers won in the place where numbers matter most: the scoreboard.

“It was a great game. We’ve been working all week to make sure we were ready to put pressure on BC, and we wanted to be able to run faster and transition from fast break to fast break,” said Virginia head coach Julie Myers. “We knew that we were going to need to make some big stops defensively. Everyone across the board showed up with one of their best games of the season, and we just controlled the game from start to finish.”

The loss dropped the Eagles to 8-8 on the season, though they still own the No. 17 ranking in the country. BC will end its regular season with two non-conference games, including senior day at home on Saturday against Yale. The final home game is Tuesday, when the Eagles host New Hampshire. Following that, BC will learn whether or not it will get the chance to play in the NCAA Tournament. Two wins would surely boost its tournament resume, while a loss in either game may end the Eagles’ hopes of playing any postseason lacrosse.