Northwestern Completes Comeback, Heads to NCAA Title Game

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — It took a program-defining ride to bring one of the greatest rides in the history of college lacrosse to a screeching halt.

Boston College, seeking to reach its eighth straight NCAA Division I women’s lacrosse championship game, fell victim late to one of the most persistent, pesky and downright perplexing riding units in the country, as third-seeded Northwestern flummoxed the second-seeded Eagles’ offense in the fourth quarter of a 12-11 win in Friday’s national semifinal at Gillette Stadium.

All the while, Northwestern turned those created opportunities into scores, erasing a five-goal fourth-quarter deficit to score six unanswered and win it when Madison Taylor found Sam Smith streaking across the crease for the go-ahead strike in front of 10,080 fans — the most for an NCAA Division I women’s lacrosse semifinal since 2002.

Delaney Sweitzer sealed it when she stopped a Mia Mascone shot that would have tied the score with four seconds left in regulation, putting an exclamation point on a frantic final two minutes.

“We knew that it was going to be very hard coming in here to Gillette, kind of being the underdog, not the home team and a lot of bright yellow,” Northwestern head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said. “We had talked a lot about that, being prepared for that mentally, and just tried to utilize that to fuel us.”

After Boston College (19-3) shut out the Northwestern (19-2) offense in the third quarter, the Wildcats stared at an 11-6 deficit with 15 minutes remaining. Lucy Munro made quick work of shrinking that deficit just 15 seconds into the fourth quarter when she took advantage of a player-up situation.

Seventy-five seconds later, Taylor buried a free position attempt. The lead then evaporated in the blink of an eye. Aditi Foster made it 11-9 with 8:43 to play. Another successful Taylor free position shrunk the deficit to 11-10 just forty-four seconds later. Forty-eight seconds after that, it was tied at 11 when Riley Campbell emphatically finished an Emerson Bohlig feed.

It was Smith that made the run not only seem possible, but likely. Northwestern finished with a 19-8 draw edge and effectively played make-it, take-it the entire fourth quarter.

“We’re never out of a game because of Sam Smith and our draw team,” Amonte Hiller said. “They fight hard.”

Northwestern’s victory on Friday means Taylor will finish as the Division I women’s lacrosse single-season goals leader (109 and counting). Boston College Rachel Clark was on her tail and had already surpassed the previous record as well, but she ends the season with 106.

Taylor’s scoring chops means increased attention comes her way, especially in pivotal moments. It was the sign of a mature playmaker when, instead of trying to evade an oncoming double, she encouraged the attention and found Smith to take a late lead.

“We knew that they were going to double Maddy, because she’s an unstoppable force,” Smith said.

Taylor and Smith oozed confidence during postgame interviews. They wore Boston Scally caps, a gift to the entire team from Amonte Hiller earlier in the week. In many ways, the caps epitomize the workmanlike nature in which Northwestern goes about its business.

They ride. They play hard. They play with heart and belief, a word that came up quite a bit after the game, and aren’t afraid to do the dirty work to get the job done.

An 11-6 deficit with 15 minutes left against the team that beat you in the NCAA championship game a year ago? Not a bother.

“We said, ‘This is right where we want to be,’” Taylor said. “We never stopped believing in each other and what this team can do.”

To Boston College’s credit, its belief never wavered, either. Acacia Walker-Weinstein attributed that to the chemistry that’s been passed on from class to class during an eight-year stretch of making championship weekend.

This season won’t end in a national championship, let alone an eight consecutive championship game appearance, but Walker-Weinstein is filled with pride. She believes her program has had a part to play in the 10,000-plus fans who braved unkind weather Friday evening.

“I think the girls in our program play the right way,” Walker-Weinstein said. “They play unselfishly. They play really gritty. They play really tough. And I think they’ve captured the heart of a lot of young lacrosse players. I think that’s a tribute to the kind of people that we have in our program. Playing unselfishly is not always easy when the sport is growing and there’s a lot of limelight and there’s a lot of social media, but our girls have been true to our standard to be unselfish. And I think because of that, the game is electric and fun to watch.”