Women’s LAX dropped from ACC tourney after Boston College upset

The Orange needed 17 seconds to score. A late goal from Boston College’s Taylor Walker had brought the Eagles up 14-13 over Syracuse, and with 17 seconds left in the game — Cuse needed to score.

Unfortunately, a tough Boston College defense prevented that from happening, and the Eagles had successfully come back from a three-goal deficit to defeat the Orange 14-13.

“We made some mistakes,” Syracuse head coach Gary Gait said of the final minutes of the game. “Some mental errors gave them the ball back. Those are some amazing players on that BC team and they weren’t giving up. They made the plays at the end when they had to to win the game and we didn’t.”

With 8:10 left on the game clock, it looked as though Syracuse would take the victory and become the first team this season to defeat Boston College. Meaghan Tyrrell had just tallied the fourth goal for the Orange in a little over five minutes, and Syracuse had a 13-10 advantage.

But four seconds later, Emily Hawryschuk received a yellow card. BC’s Dempsey Arsenault was able to capitalize on this situation and score on a man-up goal a short time later. Then the Eagles scored again. At the 2:35 mark, SU’s Nicole Levy received a yellow card, and Boston College scored again on a man-up situation less than a minute later, tying the game at 13-13.

Boston’s Hannah Wyatt won the draw control and cleared the ball before taking a timeout with 1:18 remaining in regulation play. Clearly, whatever Boston College coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein said resonated with the Eagles, as a pass from Arsenault found its way to Taylor Walker directly in front of the cage. Walker backhanded a shot into the net as she was swarmed with Syracuse defenders, and Boston College officially took a one-goal lead.

Hawryschuk won the follow draw control, but the Orange were unable to get any shots off as Boston College’s Sam Apuzzo, who was selected as the No. 1 first round pick in the Women’s Professional Lacrosse League on Thursday, forced a turnover from SU’s Ella Simkins.

Hawryschuk led with a game-high four goals, followed by two goals each from Megan Carney, Sam Swart and Mary Rahal. Levy, Natalie Wallon and Tyrrell each added one for the Orange.

Boston College will take on the winner of the Duke/UNC game in the championship game of the tournament, while the Orange will wait until May 5 to find out its selection in the NCAA Tournament.

WLAX vs. Virginia – Wednesday, April 24

The 4-seed Syracuse women’s lacrosse team took down 5-seed Virginia Wednesday afternoon 12-10 to advance to the ACC Women’s Lacrosse Championship semifinals.

Syracuse was on fire, leading 9-2 at the half. Thankfully, the Orange went into the second half with a solid seven-goal lead, as Virginia would make somewhat of a comeback and come close to edging Syracuse.

“We were dialed in at the beginning of the game and things were clicking,” said Syracuse head coach Gary Gait. “The team was going full speed and making great decisions on both ends of the field. Everything was flowing and everything was going our way.”

Within the first four minutes of the second frame, Virginia came out swinging and went on a quick 3-0 run to pull itself within four of the Orange. Finally around the 22-minute mark, Syracuse’s Meaghan Tyrrell scored a goal, followed by one a little over a minute later by Sam Swart.

Virginia wasn’t going to go down easily. The Cavaliers scored five goals to Syracuse’s one in the final 19 minutes of the game to get them to double digits and pull within two of the Orange.

Thankfully, Syracuse’s Sarah Cooper came in clutch with five of the Orange’s 15 draw controls. Virginia was only able to win eight draws.

Emily Hawryschuk led the Orange in scoring with four goals.

Syracuse will face top-seed Boston College at 5 p.m. on Friday, where the Orange will look to break Boston College’s 18-win streak and take down the undefeated, No. 1 nationally ranked Eagles.

In their regular season meeting, Boston College defeated Syracuse 14-12.