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NCAA championship weekend at Gillette Stadium takes BC women’s lacrosse back to where it all began
“It’s not about repeating. It’s about winning this year."
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Eight years later, Acacia Walker-Weinstein remembers the feeling well. The hugeness of Gillette Stadium, the anxiety of her first championship weekend as a head coach, and the weightlessness that comes with having already defied expectations as a Cinderella team.
There’s no pressure when you’ve already won more than you were supposed to. Walker-Weinstein was playing with house money.
So when her unseeded Boston College women’s lacrosse team eked out a 16-15 win over Navy in the 2017 NCAA Tournament semifinal, a title game against top-seeded Maryland didn’t feel so daunting. The Eagles put up more of a fight than was expected, finishing as national runners-up after a 16-13 loss to the undefeated Terrapins.
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“We had no business being there,” Walker-Weinstein said. “But even back then, there was not a moment that was too big for our girls.”
That weekend at Gillette Stadium eight years ago set in motion the current era of BC lacrosse, one that includes two national titles — including last season — and eight consecutive trips to the Final Four, seven of which have ended in the championship game.
The second-seeded Eagles will return to Foxborough on Friday (5:30 p.m., ESPNU) to face Northwestern in the national semifinals with a chance to become the first team since Maryland in 2014 and ’15 to go back to back.
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But just like in 2017, Walker-Weinstein doesn’t feel like she’s under pressure. She’s excited, proud of what her team has done already.
She feels hungry for more.
“It’s not about repeating,” Walker-Weinstein said. “It’s about winning this year. The only time we talk about repeating is when we try to put something in front of the girls as a challenge to accomplish something they haven’t done yet.”
Since defying expectations in the 2017 tournament, BC has become a national powerhouse, a producer of two Tewaaraton Award winners, and a yearly favorite to win it all. Be that as it may, Walker-Weinstein and her team are approaching the weekend as though they are the underdogs.
The Eagles lost twice this year, both times to top-seeded North Carolina: once during the regular season and once in the final of the ACC tournament. The losses exposed their cracks, Walker-Weinstein said, and encouraged her players to realize that they’re not untouchable.
She expects people outside the program will count her team out.
“I like that position,” she said. “I know my girls will respond to that.”
BC beat Northwestern, 13-9, in the teams’ only meeting this year, in February, but Walker-Weinstein started her film study for the rematch with a blank slate. She doesn’t want her team to use past success against the Wildcats as an indicator of future performance.
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“Northwestern is better now than they were back in February,” Walker-Weinstein said. “We just know we have to be better, too.”
The Eagles’ semifinal matchup is a repeat of last year’s title game, when Northwestern surged to a 6-0 lead in the first quarter, before BC mounted a furious comeback to win, 14-13.
“A comeback like that against such a great team is proof that those things are possible,” Walker-Weinstein said. “It’s also proof that no lead is safe.”
The Eagles will have to contend with Northwestern junior Madison Taylor, who scored three goals in that February game and leads the nation in goals (105) and points (146). Limiting Taylor and controlling the pace of the game will be crucial for the Eagles.
BC will counter with senior attack Rachel Clark, whose 103 goals this season trail only Taylor. Clark, Taylor, and BC goalkeeper Shea Dolce, along with the North Carolina sister duo of Ashley and Chloe Humphrey, are the finalists for the Tewaaraton Award, awarded to the top player in the nation.
On the other side of the bracket, No. 4 Florida will face North Carolina on Friday at 3 p.m. on ESPNU. The winners will face off for the title on Sunday at noon on ESPN. The Tar Heels will be a favorite to return to the national title game, carrying a 20-0 record into the weekend. They beat the Gators, 14-9, when the teams met in February.
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