In the second quarter of the ACC Quarterfinals, Sky Caron lined up seven yards away from Virginia goalie Tyler Kennedy with hopes of earning Boston College field hockey its first point of the game. Caron took her position after an intentional foul for a penalty stroke. In a strong stance, Caron fired a powerful shot at the Virginia net, but Kennedy was perfectly positioned and knocked it away.
Despite their strong efforts, the Eagles could not get the ball in the back of the net, and BC fell to Virginia 2–0 on Thursday afternoon, closing out its fall season.
“Yeah, I think you know, looking at the stats, we had four penalty corners, I think those were great opportunities,” BC head coach Kelly Doton said in her postgame press conference. “We had Sky [Caron] miss the strike—that certainly didn’t cost us the game. But you know, we had the opportunities there. It’s just one of those games where it didn’t fall.”
The No.13 Eagles (12–6, 5–4 Atlantic Coast) faced off against the No.14 Virginia Cavaliers (11–7, 3–3) in Syracuse, N.Y. in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament. The Eagles finished their regular season strong, winning their last three games and defeating ACC opponents Duke and Wake Forest. The Eagles had already faced off against the Cavaliers earlier this season, defeating them 1–0 in Charlottesville in early October.
After an hour and a half weather delay, the ball finally dropped at J.S. Coyne Stadium, and the game went back and forth between the Eagles and Cavaliers. With a green card on Kendall Hanlon early in the first quarter, the Eagles were forced to compete against Virginia with one less player, and the pressure was immediately on BC’s goalie Jonna Kennedy.
With under four minutes left in the first quarter, the Cavaliers broke the ice and scored the first goal of the game. Virginia’s Laura Janssen generated a strategic one-on-one with Jonna Kennedy, and she slotted the ball into BC’s net to give her team an early one-goal lead.
“I think it was a tale of two halves,” Doton said. “I think the first half, we were a little flat. Virginia came out with a lot of energy and moved the ball really well on us.”
Halfway through the second quarter, the Cavaliers struck again. This time, it was Rachel Robinson. After Virginia earned itself a corner, Robinson followed up on a missed shot and fired the ball into the back of the goal, giving the Cavaliers a two-goal advantage.
Although they did not record any shots on goal in the first period, the Eagles outshot the Cavaliers 4–3 in the second quarter, with two of those shots coming from offensive standout Fusine Govaert.
Govaert was one of four Eagles to earn All-ACC honors, but the only one to earn First Team honors, while Jonna Kennedy, Sarah Johnson, and Caron all earned Second Team honors.
The Eagles kept the pressure on the Cavalier defense in the third quarter, with strong efforts by Margo Carlin and Jaime Natale. With 30 seconds remaining in the quarter, the Eagles earned a corner. A perfectly executed shot by Johnson just missed the net, and the Eagles entered the final 15 minutes of the game in desperate need of a goal.
“We couldn’t really get a flow or tempo into the game until really the second half and then we really started to play and started to move the ball,” Doton said.
Despite strong play by the Eagles, the Cavaliers were one step ahead of BC, and they intercepted many of the Eagles’ passes. With less than four minutes remaining, Doton pulled Jonna Kennedy and added an extra attacker into the mix as a final chance to score a goal, but the Eagles were unable to convert on their shots.
“I think we had a lot of great opportunities, great chances,” Doton said. “It just didn’t go on the back of the net.”
Featured Image by Nicole Vagra / Heights Staff
