Natalie Shurtleff Arrives at BC With a 'Good Feeling'

Perhaps first impressions (and second ones) aren’t everything — at least not for Natalie Shurtleff and Boston College. 

Shurtleff was part of two Clemson teams that lost to the Eagles, 14-6 in 2024 and 11-9 last year.

“I was upset when we lost to them, so I was not their biggest fan,” Shurtleff said with a laugh. “But they stuck together as a team. It was annoying to play them. I was like, ‘Gosh, I don’t like these people.’ They were supporting each other and had good, deep communication. It seemed like a close group.”

Shurtleff will join that group next season. She tallied 101 goals, 58 assists and 68 draw controls as a Tiger, posting career highs in each category last year (43G, 17A, 68DC). She may have given the Eagles side eyes, but Boston College head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein had her eyes on Shurtleff and was ready to reel her in when she saw her enter the portal. 

Go figure: The one-time rival is already fitting right in and communicating like an Eagle.

“We struck gold with her,” Walker-Weinstein said. “She can have deep, vulnerable conversations and instantly connect, which will be important as we figure out how she needs to be coached to accelerate her talent. She brings something we really need to our offense: dodging presence.”

With a high lacrosse IQ, Walker-Weinstein also expects Shurtleff to emerge as a leader beyond the box score. Initially, she chose Clemson over Penn and Georgetown, not minding being a little further from her Maryland home. Now, in Chestnut Hill, she’s looking forward to being closer to family — her grandmother lives about an hour away. 

She also plans to attend medical school after graduating from Clemson in three years, focusing on addiction medicine and feels BC has the program that best aligns with her goals on and off the fields.

“I’m someone who’s big on growth,” Shurtleff said. “I felt that I had mastered the Clemson environment, in terms of knowing where I was, what I was doing and who my friends were. I was ready for the next adventure, and BC was an opportunity for me to grow more. I took it.”

Boston College is looking to grow and evolve its offense, even with multiple threats returning. The Eagles bring back their top four scorers from 2026 in Molly Driscoll (32G, 23A), Giulia Colarusso (40G, 12A), Marissa White (40G, 10A) and Kylee Colbert (38G, 8A). 

Many of these players helped recruit Shurtleff to Boston College. White, a transfer from North Carolina ahead of last season, hopped on the phone with her. Colarusso was among a group of players who took her to lunch. They were all-in to add to the unit and not threatened by another veteran presence.

“Seeing that kind of buy-in from both the coaches and the team is inspiring,” Shurtleff said. “The minute I committed, I got a text from every single player on the team.”

Besides, the Eagles are never ones to run the same system each year. Plus, with Abbey Herrod (81DC) gone, Shurtleff’s prowess in the circle makes her all the more valuable as Boston College tries to return to championship weekend after missing it for the first time since 2016.

“We’re looking to get her everywhere,” Walker-Weinstein said. “There’s going to be a lot of adapting around the draw circle, and I absolutely see her on it. She’s smart. She’s in all of our systems. She’s going to be great, and I’m going to spend a lot of time getting her ready, not just to fill a lacrosse world, but empowering and supporting her.”

Shurtleff was listed as a midfielder at Clemson, but said she played more naturally in an attacking role. She’s excited about the possibility of contributing on both ends of the field and in the circle. And unlike last year, she doesn’t have MCATs to study for. It's let her focus on lacrosse this summer.

“This is probably the most I’ve trained and put into lacrosse for a while, in terms of what I'm planning to do,” Shurtleff said. “I’m trying to get a lot better. I’m going to be running more [especially in the midfield], and I’m going to get into the best shape I can.”

Between runs and before she hits the field, Shurtleff will cross a few must-dos off her Boston itinerary, including meeting some of the players for a Red Sox game at Fenway Park. The Sox last won a World Series in 2018, the year after the Eagles began their recently snapped streak of getting to the national semifinals. 

Shurtleff, too, has trophies on the mind.

“I want to win a national championship, and I think we have what it takes,” she said. “We've already had team meetings and talked about things, and we're all working on the packet. I have a really good feeling about this year. I keep dreaming of being in the final four, and I can see it.”