The Boston College Eagles handed the Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team its first loss of the 2024 season with a final score of 9-20. The No. 20 Minutewomen (0-1) faced No. 2 Boston College (1-0) at Fish Field in Chestnut Hill. The 29th meeting in program history, the Eagles now lead the series 15-14.
“I was very proud of this group,” head coach Jana Drummond said. “[We had] some young faces out there and just a lot of toughness to not give up and really work and play the whole 60 minutes. There are some really great highlights throughout the game that we did really well and now it’s just putting that full 60 minutes together of all of those things.”
Boston College opened the game with a goal from Cassidy Weeks in the first three minutes of the game. Massachusetts senior Charlotte Wilmoth answered with the Minutewomen’s first goal at the five-minute mark, tying the Eagles 1-1. Wilmoth ended the game with a total of four goals.
“[Wilmoth] was so slippery and I thought we did such a great job at feeding her,” Drummond said. “She worked really well off ball and very proud of how she just maintained her calmness and precision with finishing her shots.”
Joining Wilmoth on the scoreboard for UMass was junior Lauren Tolve, sophomore Kassidy Morris, freshman Lil Hancock and graduate students Fiona McGowan and Skylar Simmonds, who each finished with one goal. McGowan also collected three assists, earning a total of four points.
“I thought our offense was moving the ball quickly and finding some different looks, they were reading those doubles well and moving it quickly so, you know, they worked really great as a unit,” Drummond said. “[Wilmoth] did a great job at finishing some of those looks there. [McGowan] kept everyone on the offensive really calm and patient, which is really necessary.”
Despite UMass’s offensive attempts, they were no match for BC with Weeks, Emma LoPinto and Andrea Reynolds all scoring first-half hat tricks. Kayla Martello got the fourth hat trick for the Eagles in the fourth quarter.
The Eagles significantly increased their lead by scoring eight unanswered goals in the first half. In the final minutes of the second quarter, a pair of goals scored by Wilmoth and Morris reinvigorated the Minutewomen. The Eagles responded with two goals in the final minute. Reynolds scored on a free-position shot from the 8-meter arc in the last three seconds of the half, leaving the Eagles with a nine-point lead going into halftime.
“I would say we just got to clean it up a little bit on the draw section, got to work on controlling that possession, just getting a little bit better at box outs, reading that placement where the ball is going to go,” Drummond said. “We got some new faces on that so really working on increasing that area of the draw unit.”
Catrina Tobin was between the pipes for the Minutewomen. Tobin faced 27 shots on goal and made seven saves against the Eagles. At the end of the first quarter, Tobin made a save to hold the Eagles to a three-point lead.
“We’re just [going to] take away those highlights that we did well and how we just put some more of those together and minimize some of those dips and be a little more on that highlight realm of just connecting more. We fought hard and just using some of those skills going into Saturday and really have a great week of practice, just working hard,” Drummond said.
The Minutewomen return for their home opener at Garber Field against Brown University on Feb. 17.
Devin Lippman can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @devinlippman.
