Lacrosse: No. 9 Wildcats fall to No. 1 Boston College

In a matchup with the country’s top-ranked team, Boston College, ninth-ranked Northwestern women’s lacrosse fell 22-17 Saturday night at Ryan Fieldhouse.

Selena Lasota scored five times for the Wildcats, but Dempsey Arsenault’s seven goals powered the No. 1 Golden Eagles (8-0) to an impressive road victory in what was their fourth win over a ranked team this season. The loss drops Northwestern to 4-3 on the season, with all three losses coming against top five opponents.

Liza Elder got things going for Northwestern with a goal less than a minute into the game, but Boston College rattled off three straight goals to follow and never trailed again. After tying the game at three, Northwestern fell behind 8-4 with 8:54 left in the first half. The Wildcats closed the first half on a 4-1 run, however, to cut the BC lead to 9-8 at halftime.

Lindsey McKone added the final goal of the opening frame on this sweet buzzer-beater:

Lasota scored 20 seconds into the second half to tie the game at 9, and the game was again tied at 10. It was the first minutes BC had played in the second half without the lead all year.

Then the Eagles began to pull away. Boston College scored five goals in the ensuing 6-plus minutes to go up 15-11, and Northwestern never got within three the rest of the way.

Thanks in part to a key 25-14 advantage in draw controls, BC built the lead to seven late in the second half, before the Wildcats scored the final two goals to ultimately fall by 5. Boston College outshot Northwestern 40-28 in the game, with the Wildcats scoring 17 times on just 21 attempts on the net. Julie Krupnick finished with ten saves for NU.

Northwestern turned the ball over less than the Eagles, but the difference in draw controls and a 17 minute span in the middle of the second half that produced 12 scores for the visitors proved too much to overcome.