Boston College overwhelms women’s lacrosse in second half as Eagles end Tigers’ season

Moments into the second half, junior Tess D’Orsi scored her 64th goal of the season to even the score of the NCAA quarterfinal matchup between Princeton and Boston College at seven. From there, the Eagles would overwhelm the Tigers, dominating both off faceoffs and set plays to win 17–12 and advance to the NCAA women’s lacrosse final four in Baltimore. For the Tigers, an impressive season ends on a sour note, as a game that once looked winnable for the orange and black soon fell out of reach.

To beat the No. 2 Eagles in Massachusetts, the No. 7 Tigers knew they were going to need lots of production from sophomore Kyla Sears and senior Elizabeth George. Unfortunately, neither had a goal until the second half, when Sears put one past Eagle goalkeeper Abbey Ngai to make it a five-goal game with just under twenty minutes remaining. On the other side, Boston College made the most of their playmakers Dempsey Arsenault and Sam Apuzzo, who with a combined for seven goals overcame a solid effort from the Tiger defense. With 5:02 left in the first half, Apuzzo scored her first goal of the game to cut Princeton’s lead to 6–5: less than three minutes later, Apuzzo completed the hat trick for her 88th goal of the year as the Eagles took a 7–6 lead into the half.

With Sears and George held off the scoreboard, Princeton relied on their other players for offense. Seniors Allie Rogers and Kathryn Hallett answered the call, scoring two and three goals respectively as the Tigers jumped out to a 6–4 lead. Rogers and Hallet both capitalized on Eagle yellow cards as Boston College looked like they may be in penalty trouble early in the game. Princeton played impressive defense throughout the first half, forcing the Eagles to rely on set pieces and at one point keeping them off the board for nearly ten minutes. Yet the back to back championship finalists would not be kept down forever, as they adjusted to a slower pace of play, relying on set pieces to score. The adjustment worked, as after a 7–7 tie early in the second half the Eagles rattled off five straight goals. To make matters worse, two would-be goals for the Tigers — one in each half — were waved off because the shooter was inside the crease. The first half goal would have extended the Tigers’ lead to three goals, while the second half goal would have halted the Boston College run.

In the end, the scoring run by the Eagles to open the second half was too much for Princeton to overcome. A back-and forth-affair ensued to close out the game, but the Tigers were never able to get closer than three goals down. For the second straight year, the Tigers season would end at the hands of the Eagles. However, the Tigers can keep their heads high, as they concluded another impressive spring, finishing 16–4 and winning the Ivy League championship for the third consecutive year. They will now head into the offseason, where they will look to regroup from the loss and get ready to defend their title in 2020.