Women's Lax Drops Heartbreaker In Final Four At Gillette

FOXBOROUGH - Through three quarters of its NCAA semifinal at rainy Gillette Stadium on Friday night, the defending national champions' storybook road to a repeat was fully intact.

Boston College led by five with 15 minutes to play and after North Carolina steamrolled Florida earlier, the stage would be set for a third epic encounter this year with everything on the line Sunday.

The only problem is, Northwestern wanted its title back after losing to BC a year ago.

In 2024, it was the Eagles stunning the Wildcats with an epic comeback. On Friday, Northwestern and Hingham native Kelly Amonte Hiller returned the favor, scoring the game's final six goals and coming up with one stop at the end to get a 12-11 win.

The dream of a repeat in their backyard ends for BC and so does another fantastic, yet disappointing season at 19-3. In eight Final Four appearances, BC has two national titles, but have now lost twice in Foxborough.

Northwestern - the women's game's original dynasty back in the early 2000's - will try to knock off UNC at noon on Sunday.

Rachel Clark capped her incredible - albeit brief - BC career with another hat trick. Emma LoPinto finished her stellar BC career with two goals and three assists. The other member of the 'big three' McKenna Davis finished with a hat trick and two assists, breaking the single-season assist record at BC in the process. Mallory Hasselbeck, Mia Mascone and Molly Driscoll all scored as well.

"Being in Boston is so great, The fan base that we have and the support...starting in Boston and ending in Boston, I'm really grateful we were able to be here," Davis said while fighting back tears.

"Not the way we wanted to end our season, but I told the girls in the locker room how proud I was of them," said Acacia Walker-Weinstein. "You wouldn't know it from the outside, but the team had come a really long way. I'm proud of the standard that they held, the leaders that they became and they're leaving BC lacrosse in a great place.

"A place for us to be proud of. Not the ending that we wanted, but I'm still very proud of our team and all of the leaders. I'm excited for the freshman who got such incredible experience on such a big stage. Hopefully, we can continue next year."

A huge defensive stop by BC in the final minute of the third quarter quickly turned into a perfectly executed fast break, ending with Davis finishing all alone on NW goalie Delaney Sweitzer to put the Eagles up 11-6 heading to the fourth.

Unfortunately, BC had no answer for Northwestern's Sam Smith on draws and couldn't come up with a big ground ball whenever they needed it (NW won the GB battle in the 4th 7-3 and draws 6-1; 19-8 for the game). With 13:30 remaining in the game, Madison Taylor - the nation's leading scorer - cut it to 11-8.

Shea Dolce (12 saves) made a big save with 12:11 left, then another two from point-blank range. But, NW eventually got another crack at it and scored again, cutting it to 11-9 with 8:43 to go.

After a free position goal cut it to one with 7:59 left, the Wildcats tied the game at 11 apiece 38 seconds later. Northwestern took the lead for good with 5:26 on the clock after BC was denied on the other end by Sweitzer.

"We knew that Northwestern was going to fight," said Walker-Weinstein. "Kelly's the best out there and we just had to adjust minute by minute and I think we did. We did a great job adjusting. We just didn't make enough plays. Unfortunately, we couldn't slow that momentum. But, they're a tough team to stop. I just think we needed to disrupt a little momentum there in the beginning of the fourth quarter there and we didn't do that enough."

Taylor had a chance to add insurance with 4:01 remaining, but Dolce made an incredible save.

"She's the best goalie I've ever seen," Walker-Weinstein said of her superstar net minder.

From that point on, both teams played jittery, turning the ball over a number of times. Northwestern was the beneficiary of a questionable timeout with 1:22 left during a loose ball scrum where it didn't seem like they had possession.

Still, with the clock ticking under 30 seconds and Northwestern trying to run out the game, BC forced a turnover along the sidelines, quickly got the ball up field and Mascone had a chance to tie the game on the right post with seconds remaining. Sweitzer made a save and the Wildcats stormed the field as BC players stood in disbelief.

In the end, this one will sting for a long time, but the Eagles' still have the best goalie in the country returning and a lot of young players that just gained some incredible postseason experience.

"Every girl on this team fought and scrapped, day in and day out," added Shea Baker, BC's heart-and-soul defender who will undoubtedly use this as motivation next year. "I wish we could have closed the deal for our seniors, but being under these lights in front of our families with such unbelievable girls on our sideline...it's something to be grateful for and proud of.

"Not the outcome we wanted, but I'm proud of everyone on this team."