A comeback for the ages. Absolute insanity.
The ‘Cardiac Cats pulled off one of the most incredible comebacks in program history to return to the NCAA championship game for a third consecutive year.
After going down 11-6 with 15 minutes left, the No. 3-seeded Northwestern lacrosse went on a 6-0 run in the fourth quarter to upset No. 2 Boston College 12-11 in the NCAA semifinals, overcoming a scoreless third.
Northwestern’s Madison Taylor stepped up big-time on offense with four goals and four assists, as well as six draw controls. Niki Miles and Riley Campbell both had two goals apiece. Defensively, Delaney Sweitzer recorded eight saves (including a game-winner at the buzzer).
NU found itself with a free-position opportunity early — Taylor Lapointe came crashing down the lane from the left elbow, but Shea Dolce blocked with her chest guard to deny Northwestern any early momentum. Madison Taylor would be sure to rectify that on the next possession. Her first shot of the day in transition skidded past Dolce to out the ‘Cats up 1-0.
Rachel Clark looked to take advantage of Northwestern’s man coverage, but ‘Cats sent the double to the outside of the arc, forcing Clark to rush the shot and miss over the net. Northwestern’s Niki Miles then padded the cushion six minutes into the first, as Taylor found her inside the fan for a chip shot from just outside the crease. She got the ball on the left side of the crease next possession and burned BC defender Shea Baker, leading to a 3-0 ‘Cats lead.
At the 6:52 mark, Mckenna Davis got the Eagles on the board with a clever move on Delaney Sweitzer, faking up top to get the goalie to reach, then bouncing the shot high off the turf for the score. Sweitzer tried her best to turn around and scoop the ball up before it broke the plane of the goal line, but came agonizingly short, swiping and missing at the shot by mere inches.
Action between the two teams went quiet for the next two and a half minutes before Riley Campbell played catch-and-shoot from the top of the fan to establish a 4-1 Northwestern lead. The graduate student made her arrival in postseason play after a relatively quiet previous three games.
Rachel Clark made her presence known inside two minutes of the first, getting the ball on the left side of the arc, then moving to her right to evade the reach of Jaylen Rosga. The senior then ripped off a shot that found the right side of the netting. Clark tore through the ‘Cats defense again on the next possession, weaving through en route to logging her second goal within a minute of play, sending her Eagles into the second quarter down by one.
Much like in the NU-BC February matchup, Emma LoPinto made her first score of the day in the second period. Davis would take the ball behind the crease, flip to LoPinto on the left side, and she’d cash in by going top-left on Sweitzer. Davis broke the Boston College single-season assists record on the play.
With the score now even at the 13:23 mark, Taylor would line up for her first free-position shot. She’d move towards the center of the crease, body Shea Baker out of the way, and slip a shot past Dolce to put NU back in the driver’s seat.
Rachel Clark refused to ease her pursuit of the ‘Cats lead. LoPinto fed Clark as she cut through the middle of the fan, giving her an easy shot on the helpless Sweitzer.
A high-scoring affair through 18 minutes of play total, as both teams found themselves in a dead heat: 5-5 in the middle of the second.
The tie wasn’t broken until the 6:56 mark of the quarter.. Davis received LoPinto’s second straight assist, giving Boston College its first lead of the night. Following a Taylor miss, the Eagles took the ball coast-to-coast to add on another. With 4:25 left in the half, redshirt junior Mallory Hasselback found a lane in the defense to get into the scoring column.
Emerson Bohlig ended NU’s 13-minute scoring drought inside the minute mark. She shot from close initially was stopped by the stick of Dolce, but the backspin off the bounce carried the ball between the goalkeeper’s legs and beyond the line to cut the deficit in half for the ‘Cats. At halftime, Boston College led 7-6.
Despite winning the opening draw of the third, the ‘Cats couldn’t convert on their first offensive possession of the second half. Neither did the Eagles, as Mia Mascone would penetrate the defense and find herself in a world of trouble, eventually getting the ball checked out of her stick by Alex Blake.
On the other end of the field, Kylee Colbert made a huge defensive play by taking the ball out of Niki Miles’ stick to preserve the lead four minutes into the quarter. Another caused turnover for Northwestern was to follow, and the first six minutes of the quarter would tick away with the score frozen at 7-6.
Molly Driscoll would be the ice breaker at the 6:51 mark, getting wide-open space on the left side of the crease for her first goal of the game. LoPinto would reunite with the meshed polyester not long after, firing off a bounce shot next to the crease to make the score 9-6 BC.
Mascone scored for the first time at the 4:36 mark of the quarter to earn the Eagles’ third unanswered goal of the quarter. Ella Cumberland had an opportunity to stop the run with a free-position shot, but Dolce made her sixth stop of the evening. Next, Davis completed her third hat trick of the season on a fast break with 50 seconds left in the third. Boston College’s largest lead of the night was now inflated to five as the quarter drew to a close.
For just the fourth time this season, Northwestern went scoreless for an entire quarter.
Quarter number four was quite the opposite. Lucy Munro would get her first score of the day fifteen seconds in, making the score 11-7. Taylor then made good of a free position opportunity to reduce the Eagle lead to 3 with 13:30 left to play.
Northwestern continued the relentless pursuit of the Boston College lead with a series of shots in an offensive possession with nine minutes left to go. Dolce blocked two Northwestern shots in the first 30 seconds of the attack before Aditi Foster put a shot past the senior to make it an 11-9 disadvantage.
Taylor would earn herself her second free-position goal of the outing with a tick under eight minutes to go.
Now only down by one, Northwestern was riding the momentum of a 4-0 run after suffering from the same fate a quarter ago.
Riley Campbell completed the comeback by shaking off Colbert on the edge of the 8-meter fan to open up a shot on Dolce. In just eight minutes, the cardiac ‘Cats erased a sizable five-point lead in favor of Boston College, determined to prevent history from repeating itself.
Sam Smith put Northwestern ahead for the first time since the 13:20 mark in the second quarter. At the 5:26 point of the fourth, she caught Taylor’s pass in motion and slammed home a shot into the back of the net. The ‘Cats posted a mind-boggling six straight goals in the fourth to topple a mountain created by their adversaries just moments before.
With her squad in panic mode at the three-minute mark, Rachel Clark attempted to even the score once again by calling for a pass as she came blazing through the fan. She’d try to fire immediately as she received the ball, but nothing but air came out of the pocket of her net. Jane Hansen, trailing the attacker on the play, made a huge stick check on the play to turn possession arrow the opposite way.
Inside a minute, Northwestern looked to run the clock out in the offensive zone to secure the 12-11 victory. However, Boston College would play the press, moving Dolce out of the net to have an extra defender. The decision paid dividends for the Eagles, allowing Morgan Smith to force a turnover, moving BC in the other direction.
Smith fouled Clark 39 seconds to go. BC moved quickly into the offensive zone, but to no avail, as Driscoll turned it back over to the ‘Cats.
In one last surge to send the game to overtime, Baker forced yet another Northwestern turnover to give her offense another crack at the net. The Eagles wasted no time, sprinting downhill to move the ball inside the fan. The ball ended up in the hands of Mia Mascone with four seconds left, allowing her to rip off a shot to save her team’s title hopes.
Sweitzer made the save of her life to lock down the win for the ‘Cats, in the process, defeating a program she’s longed to overcome in her collegiate career.
Northwestern faces No. 1-seeded North Carolina on Sunday in the national championship game at 11:00 a.m. CT on ESPN.