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Thursday’s result in Chestnut Hill was near a mirror image of Syracuse’s two losses against Boston College a year ago.

The first of two matchups in 2023 came in the regular season finale when Boston College climbed back from a four-goal deficit to win 17-16 in regulation. Weeks later in the Final Four, SU entered the final frame up 7-5, but its lead slipped away, falling 8-7.

As Syracuse entered the fourth quarter in the 2024 rendition up 7-6, it was somewhat déjà vu. The Eagles quickly flipped the game with two straight goals to start the fourth, but this time Syracuse answered. As the teams traded goals, Syracuse’s zone defense forced overtime on the last possession, something it failed to do in the last two meetings with the Eagles.

Syracuse won the opening draw of the extra period, culminating in SU’s Natalie Smith receiving a pass from 5 yards out and firing a shot. BC’s Shea Dolce stood tall to deny Natalie and give BC the ball back. On the other end, Emma LoPinto fed Cassidy Weeks who beat Delaney Sweitzer high for the game-winner. In its final game of the regular season, No. 2 Syracuse (12-4, 8-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) repeated past blunders of not finishing down the stretch, falling to No. 6 Boston College (13-3, 7-2 ACC) 11-10 in overtime and dropping its third game in a row to BC by one goal.

SU’s defeat was its third in overtime this season, ending its 10 game win streak as it failed to finish ACC play undbeaten. The Orange controlled the game early but collapsed in the final period for the third game in a row versus BC.

Entering Syracuse’s game versus Boston College, it had not beaten BC since the 2021 ACC tournament, which featured SU head coach Kayla Treanor on the opposite sideline. Though the Orange had already clinched the No. 1 seed in next week’s ACC tournament, there was still a lot at stake.

“I think it (would be) a statement win,” SU attack Emma Ward told the media Tuesday.

From the start, SU looked to be headed in that direction through an all-around effort. Katie Goodale won the opening draw after it bounced around for almost 15 seconds but was quickly triple-teamed and turned the ball over. BC’s Kayla Martello found a seam through the middle of Syracuse’s zone defense and took a shot from point-blank range but Delaney deflected the ball with her right hip as SU collected the ensuing ground ball.

On the other end, Syracuse worked the ball around against BC’s man-to-man defense. The Orange rarely faced a non-zone defense throughout the regular season, but they beat it on the first possession.

Ward worked the ball inside before flipping a pass to a cutting Olivia Adamson, beating Dolce to open the scoring. Syracuse won five of the first six draws in the game, giving it added possessions and more chances to break Boston College’s defense which ranked third in efficiency entering the game according to Lacrosse Reference.

BC answered minutes later with a goal from Belle Smith. Then it took its first lead after Coco Vandiver accidentally kicked the ball past Delaney.

But SU leading scorer Emma Tyrrell got the Orange back in the game. Sydney Scales, a 2023 IWLCA First-Team All-American matched up one-on-one with Tyrrell throughout — who’s averaged 4.63 goals through her last eight games.

Scales got the best of Tyrrell early, causing a turnover. But later in the quarter, Tyrrell wrapped around the right corner and beat Scales by a step before firing past Dolce, tying the game 2-2. Ward scored less than two minutes later, giving SU the lead back to close the quarter.

In the second quarter, both teams traded blows. First, Adamson scored her second to increase the lead to two, and although Weeks answered, Natalie beat Dolce high to put SU back up two. Following a few quick strikes, both teams were shut out the rest of the half, with SU entering the half with a 5-3 lead.

Coming off its loss to Virginia Saturday, Boston College had not lost two games in a row since 2017, winning 26 games after a loss. But Syracuse looked to be on its way to breaking the streak with its two-goal advantage. Still, the Eagles wouldn’t let the streak die.

On the opening play of the half, Maddy Baxter committed a penalty, giving BC a player-up. Weeks capitalized with a goal. Then minutes later, Martello found the back of the net, tying the game 5-5. Belle scored at the 7:19 mark of the third quarter to give Boston College its first lead since 2-1. Meanwhile, Syracuse’s attack was reeling, not scoring from 8:35 in the second until Natalie came up big again.

Natalie was pushed by BC’s Shea Baker, drawing a free position. From the 8-meter, she shot just before Scales could affect her effort, beating Dolce and tying the game. Minutes later, Ward used her physicality to put SU up 7-6 heading into the fourth quarter.

But the lead wasn’t safe. Early in the frame, it seemed to be going the same way as 2023. Rachel Clark — who entered with a team-leading 67 points — scored her first of the day, beating SU’s pressure inside.

Syracuse’s early draw dominance stalled out, as BC won four in a row across the end of the third and beginning of the fourth quarter. LoPinto scored to put BC in front for the sixth lead change of the day.

Trailing, Tyrrell found Adamson who scored for her third of the game, tying the game again. Then Delaney made a big save with the shot clock expiring to get SU the ball back and Savannah Sweitzer worked inside on the other end, beating Dolce low to take the lead.

Clark tied the game before Savannah tip-toed along the crease and beat Dolce, giving SU the lead with under four minutes to play. But Clark scored again with 1:27 to play.

BC won the ensuing draw and held out possession. Head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein didn’t like what she saw and called a timeout with 10 seconds to play in regulation. Out of the stoppage, Savannah picked off McKenna Davis’s pass, forcing overtime.

In the extra period, Kate Mashewske won the draw on a false start from BC. But as Savannah fed to Natalie inside, her shot went directly at Dolce, making the save and giving Boston College possession.

On the other end, BC ran the shot clock for 80 seconds until LoPinto fed Weeks for the game-winner, extending their win streak over SU to five and completing the late comeback.

Published on April 18, 2024 at 8:08 pm

Contact Aiden at: amstepan@syr.edu | @AidenStepansky