Salute To The BC Women's Lacrosse Team For Winning Its First NCAA Title, 16-10 Vs. Syracuse

 

    I simply had to write something about the BC's women's lacrosse team (and not just because my wife, her two sisters, her dad and one of my brothers-in-law all went there) after they did something this afternoon that had never happened before in program history: the Eagles rolled 16-10 over Syracuse in the 2021 NCAA national championship game at Towson University to win their first-ever title. What made it even sweeter is that BC was appearing in the title game for the fourth straight season after heartbreaking losses in 2017 to Maryland (16-13 at Gillette Stadium), in 2018 to James Madison (16-15) and in 2019 to Maryland again (12-10). Head coach and former Terps star Acacia Walker-Weinstein has quietly built a juggernaut of a program in Chestnut Hill in her nine seasons there and this solidifies her place as one of the best women's college coaches in the country these days. BC had a slim 9-8 halftime lead and their defense clamped down on Syracuse in the second half to deliver an exhilarating moment and lifetime memories for themselves and their school. 

    This was also BC's first NCAA title from a team other than the powerhouse men's hockey program which has won five. The Eagles finished the season 18-3 and in the process split four games (the first time in women's lacrosse that two teams had played four times in the same campaign) with their ACC rival the Orange. They each won once in the regular season at home, BC lost at Cuse in the ACC tournament semifinals but they got they ultimate revenge today behind senior attack Charlotte North (she scored a game-high 6 goals which gave her an NCAA record 102 this season) who was named the tournament's most outstanding player and junior goalie Rachel Hall (she made 9 saves) who was named to the all-tournament team along with three other teammates (attack Jenn Medjid, midfielder Belle Smith and defender Hollie Schleicher). As a college recruiting nerd what's interesting to me about North and Hall-besides the fact that they are two of the best women's college lacrosse players that I've ever seen at their respective positions-is that they are both transfers: normally you associate transfers with football, basketball and hockey but North began her collegiate career at Duke and Hall originally was at Oregon. Oh and they're also both from Texas which is very cool considering that lacrosse had always been viewed as a mostly regional (Northeast and Mid-Atlantic) sport before recent years have proven otherwise in both the men's and women's game.  

    Can we also recognize how hard it is to win a Division 1 NCAA championship for New England schools in sports other than hockey? BC joins a short list of champions in women's lacrosse that hail from New England: UMass won the inaugural NCAA women's lacrosse tournament in 1982, UNH followed in 1985 and Harvard was the most recent local champion in 1990. The Crimson also lost in overtime in 1992 to Maryland and Dartmouth fell in 2006 to Northwestern at BU's Nickerson Field. FYI Maryland with 14 titles and the Wildcats with seven titles are by far the most storied programs in NCAA women's lacrosse. It's hard to overstate how much an NCAA title can do for a program; BC is obviously a wonderful school academically to begin with so that aspect sells itself but now the fact that they can compete with the best women's lacrosse teams year after year means that Walker-Weinstein's recruiting classes (which are already extremely legit) will get even that much better. New England doesn't normally produce the same sheer number of D1 athletes that other areas do for many reasons (namely our spotty weather which limits outdoor training and the level of competition) but you can bet that BC will be at the top of the wish lists now for all the most decorated high school girls lacrosse stars in the area not to mention around the United States. Finally, this title also gives Acacia almost unlimited job security meaning that she can coach at BC basically as long as she wants to, kind of like legendary BC men's hockey head coach Jerry York who has won four crowns with the Eagles and is the all-time winningest coach in college hockey.

Who Wants A Sweep? Not The Bruins Apparently Who Choke Away Game 4 Vs. Rangers In OT

The Bruins clearly saw the awful forecast this weekend in New England so they thought, "we can't do anything outside so why don't we play another game against the Rangers instead?" Boston had a glorious chance to send New York home for the summer but they blew a pair of leads (2-0, 3-2) en route to a 4-3 overtime loss at Madison Square Garden in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Bruins still own a 3-1 lead in the series but this has been deceptively close since three of the four games have been decided by one goal with two in overtime.

Game 5 is Saturday (5:30 p.m., NBCSN) and it's only happening because of BC and Eastern Mass products Brian Boyle and Chris Kreider (who had the game-winner). Well that's not true, it also took a couple insanely improbable things to let New York climb back into this. Credit to the Rangers though as Boyle finally solved their power play drought (0 for 12 in the series before that) for the tying goal at 10:00 in the third period. Kreider celebrated his promotion to a better line (sorry Brad Richards) with a pretty tip-in from Rick Nash at 7:03 in overtime.

Just like Game 3, the B's took it to the Rangers from the start and New York played like they couldn't care less. Between swearing at the refs, John Tortorella kept busy during TV timeouts by updating his resume and creating a Linked In profile. Boston outshot New York 12-4 in the first period but they couldn't beat Henrik Lundqvist (37 saves). The Bruins struck twice on the power play in the second period to grab the 2-0 advantage. Nathan Horton slipped one past King Henrik at 4:39, his fifth of the playoffs, from David Krecji and Brad Marchand. Torey Krug scored his third goal in four games at 7:41 with a long range slap shot from Tyler Seguin and Horton.

Someone must have slipped booze in Tuukka Rask's (28 saves) water bottle since he made one of the worst mistakes I've ever seen by an NHL goaltender that totally changed the tenor of what was shaping up to be an easy win for the Black and Gold. 58 seconds after Krug's goal, Carl Hagelin innocently floated a backhander on Rask that caused him to trip over his own skates than attempt to flail his stick at the slowly moving puck. It didn't work, 2-1 Bruins.

Rask's flask was passed to Zdeno Chara in the Bruins dressing room between periods because then it was his turn to make an unbelievable mistake that never happens. Chara was going behind Boston's net when Derek Stepan stripped the puck from him then wrapped it around the goal and in before Rask could recover. It made Tuukka look bad too but I can't blame him nearly as much as Chara, what was that?

If those goals weren't strange enough, Tyler Seguin suddenly morphed into a guy with confidence that could finish around the net. He made it 3-2 at 8:06 from Dougie Hamilton and Chara, his first goal of the playoffs looked like it might clinch the series.

About that, Boston took its annual too many men on the ice penalty which led to Boyle's goal. As hopeless as New York's power play has been, you knew that eventually they would figure it out.

The shots were even 7-7 in overtime but it felt like the B's had better scoring chances and it was only a matter of time before they ended it. As Lee Corso would say, "not so fast my friend!" Boston fell to 3-1 in overtime this postseason while New York improved to 1-3. The Bruins are 1-3 in closeout games but unlike the Maple Leafs series, this time they gave themselves one more game of breathing room. Actually forget I said that, please end it on Saturday night!

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Just In Time For 4/20: Celtics Add Former BC Pothead Sean Williams

The Boston Celtics have added some depth to their frontcourt by signing former Boston College clown Sean Williams. Reports say that he will join the team in Atlanta tomorrow night and make his Celtics debut against the Hawks.

They had a roster spot by waiving the ashes of Jermaine O'Neal. Even better, Williams would be eligible to play for the C's in the playoffs since he was released by the Dallas Mavericks on March 22 (a day before the deadline).

Any fan of Big East basketball or Boston College will recall that Williams was a very talented but troubled guy that had the distinction of getting kicked out of BC. That didn't seem to deter the New Jersey Nets though since he was a first-round draft pick in 2007 (17th overall). The Nets put up with his shit for three seasons (impressive) before finally dumping him after the 2009-10 season.

After bouncing back and forth between the D-League, he was picked up by the Mavs this season. In eight games with the defending champions, he averaged 3.6 points, 1.6 rebounds and 0.6 blocks in 8.1 minutes per game. His most notable accomplishment in Dallas is puking when he was on the bench. Seriously, look it up on Deadspin or YouTube. It was disgusting.

The only season that Williams did anything (relatively speaking) was his rookie year. He played in 73 games (29 starts) and averaged 5.6 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game.

As you can tell by this type of move, especially this late in the season, the Celtics desperately need big men. Chris Wilcox is also out for the season so beyond Kevin Garnett, Greg Stiemsma, Ryan Hollins and Brandon Bass, Boston doesn't have anybody to play power forward or center.

I'm sure the folks over at the Heights are happy to see one of their best and brightest return to town. He probably has a couple restraining orders after his wild couple seasons with the Eagles. If i'm not mistaken, he was arrested multiple times when he was there.

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Boston College's Tommy Cross Goes From One Champion To Another

I will go on the record as saying I hate everything about Boston College with one major exception: I've come to really appreciate their men's hockey team which just picked up its third national title in the last five seasons on Saturday (4-1 vs. Ferris State).

In the Northeast, you won't find a college hockey program that's more consistent and also produces as many quality pro players as the Eagles. That's why it's exciting that the Boston Bruins got in on the action by signing BC senior defenseman Tommy Cross to an entry-level contract.

The 6-foot-3, 205-pound senior captain is from Simsbury, CT originally and he was a second round pick by the B's (35th overall) in 2007. He's already played at some of their training camps and on Friday, he'll report to Providence for his pro debut with the Providence Bruins.

“It’s special,” Cross said at the Eagles' on-campus celebration of their national championship. “It’s a great organization. It’s an honor to sign [with them]. I think right now it hasn’t really settled in -- my mind is still here at BC. I’ve had four unbelievable years here. It’s sad to see it come to an end, but when one door closes another one opens.”

From all reports, Cross was a great leader and he was the second best defenseman on a team that was loaded with talent. If he can bide his time in the minors, there's no doubt that he'll make an impact either with the Bruins or with another NHL team in the near future. Andrew Ference of the B's also went to Boston College and look how he's turned out the last few seasons.

While helping his team close out their season with 19 straight wins and capturing their fifth title in BC's history, Cross set career-highs in games played (44), assists (19), points (24) and penalty minutes (66) during the regular season. He ended his college career with his second championship and now he gets to play in the organization of the defending Stanley Cup champs, who are expected to make another serious run this spring. Not a bad life indeed.

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Former Boston College Eagle Looking To Stick Around With The Patriots

Coming a day after the Patriots signed Massachusetts native and UMass-Amherst alum James Ihedigbo, New England brought back another player that went to college in the area: Boston College's Ricky Brown.

He played linebacker for BC from 2002-05 and had been with the Oakland Raiders since 2006 after hanging on as an undrafted free agent. In five seasons, he's appeared in 55 games and started in 13 games. He's made 102 combined tackles, had four passes defensed and forced three fumbles.

From ESPNBoston's Mike Reiss
“Oakland will always have a special place in my heart. It’s where I started my career,” he said. “I made some really good friends there. I have a lot of respect for Mr. Davis and the organization he has set up, but here’s a new chapter in my life and I’m ready to attack it.”

If Brown is to stick, he knows special teams will be crucial. He’s been down this road before.

“Coming in as an undrafted free agent in ’06 with Oakland, you basically have to make your name playing on special teams,” he said. “The first two years, besides playing in goal-line packages and one start here, one start there, it was basically special teams.”

As for his first day with the Patriots, Brown said, “This is a first-class organization through and through. I’m honored just to be on the team and I’m ready to go to work.”

Much like the defensive backfield, where Ihedigbo was added at safety, the linebacker corps of the Patriots is dangerously thin heading into the regular season. Brown is a long-shot to make the roster but as he rightly noted, special teams are where he'll make himself valuable to the Bill Belichick.

I hate Boston College more than any other school around but it would still be cool to see an underdog type guy like this make the team. You always need players in his mold to fill in the holes between all the stars and high draft picks.

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For Boston

Boston College men's hockey finally got over the hump and won the national championship, beating Notre Dame 4-1 in Denver last night.

The Eagles (24-11-8) had lost in the last two finals. It's their first title since 2001 and third in program history.

Junior forward Nathan Gerbe made up for losing the Hobey Baker (what a joke) by scoring two goals and dishing out two assists. He had five goals and three assists in the two Frozen Four games.

Freshman goalie John Muse made 20 of 21 saves for the win.

After a scoreless first period, Boston College jumped on Notre Dame (27-16-4) in the second with three straight goals. Gerbe scored off a one-timer then three minutes later he scored a ridiculous diving goal after the puck ricocheted off the back boards. Joe Whitney made it 3-0 after his shot deflected off an Irish defender's skate.

Notre Dame's Kevin Deeth caught the Eagles on a line change and broke the shutout. In the third, a controversial call turned out to be the play of the game. Notre Dame scored when the puck went off Kyle Lawson's skate, right outside the crease. After a lengthy review, the goal was overturned as they ruled that Lawson had kicked it.

It was a bum call and it would have been interesting to see what would have happened if it was 3-2. Notre Dame later rang a shot off the crossbar. With that said, BC was the better team all night.

Even worse for the Irish, BC scored 35 seconds later as Gerbe hit Ben Smith with a no-look pass from behind the net and Smith 's shot took a crazy bounce off a defender and past the ND goalie.

Boston College had too much speed and Gerbe was clearly the best player on the ice and in the tournament. He was electric every time the puck was on his stick. It didn't help that Notre Dame was 0 for 8 on the power play with just five shots.

It was BC head coach Jerry York's second title at the Heights.

They Aren't Frauds in Hockey

Say what you will about Boston College athletics but their men's hockey program is a beast.

For the third straight year, the Eagles will play in the national championship game, thanks to a 6-1 whitewash of North Dakota last night in Denver.

Boston College scored four goals in the first period and held a 6-0 lead before the Fighting Sioux (28-11-4) scored a garbage-time goal with a minute and change left in the game.

Eagles junior forward and Hobey Baker finalist Nathan Gerbe had a monster game with three goals and an assist. His goals were short-handed, power play and even-strength. He follows in the recent trend of pint-sized BC forwards. Gerbe can skate with the best of them though, he blew by the bigger and slower Sioux defenseman constantly.

Boston College freshman goalie Johnny Muse made 28 saves, badly outplaying North Dakota senior (and Hobey Baker finalist) Jean-Philippe Lamoureux, who had 19 saves.

North Dakota has now lost to BC three years in a row in the Frozen Four. It's going to be a long off-season in Grand Forks.

Believe it or not, BC will face Notre Dame in the final tomorrow night. The first No. 4 seed to make the Frozen Four, the Irish advanced to the championship by defeating top-seed Michigan, 5-4 in overtime.

So wake up Grandpa and the boys down on State Street, Boston College is playing in a championship game. Hopefully, it ends up better than the last two (where they lost to Wisconsin and Michigan State respectively). Drinks on me if at Rogies if the Eagles do it.

The Most Meaningless Streak in College Football Continues

With a 24-21 win over Michigan State yesterday in the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando, FL, Boston College has now won eight bowl games in a row, the longest streak in the country. That streak much like BC football is a joke.

When you look a little closer at the eight bowls, you'll realize there weren't any BCS games and none fell on New Years Day or later. In other words, the Eagles (11-3) have been beating up on garbage teams exactly like Michigan State (7-6) for the last eight seasons.

The Spartans had five players suspended going into the game and it's not like they were LSU to begin with. Michigan State was 3-5 in the Big Ten this season which tied them with three other pathetic teams (Purdue, Indiana, Northwestern) at the bottom, only ahead of winless Minnesota (1-11, 0-8). But I digress.

This game played out pretty much exactly as you'd expect. It was mostly a slop-fest as both teams hadn't played since Nov. 17 (MSU against Penn State) and Dec. 1 (BC against V-Tech in the ACC Championship) respectively. It goes against all reason that almost any bowl will be exciting after teams sit for so long after the season, making the play more choppy and players more susceptible to injuries.

Michigan State went up 7-0 early but BC answered with a touchdown pass from Matt Ryan to backup tight end Jon Loyte. Another Ryan TD pass-to WR Rich Gunnell-in the second quarter gave the Eagles a 14-10 halftime advantage.

The teams traded field goals in the third quarter and then fittingly the fourth quarter was the most exciting as BC seemed to put the game away before Michigan State came back but ultimately choked. Gunnell (6 catches, 138 yards) hauled in another TD pass (this one 68-yards) putting the Eagles up 24-13.

Michigan State scored on a ridiculous rollout, a 14-yard pass from QB Brian Hoyer to receiver Deon Curry. Hoyer hit tight end Kellen Davis for the two-point conversion and Sparty was in business, down only three with plenty of time and all the momentum on their side.

Their defense got the ball back but Hoyer had one last mistake in a game that was filled with them. He forced a ball down the sideline that was picked off by BC safety Paul Anderson. Game over, your 2007 Champs Sports Bowl Champions, the Boston College Eagles!

BC was led by their two best players, seniors who were playing in their last games for the Eagles. Ryan was 22 of 47 for 249 yards for three touchdowns and one interception. Strong Safety Jamie Silva had eight tackles and two picks, both in the first half, to earn the game MVP honors.

Hoyer was a horrid 14 of 36 for 131 yards with two touchdowns and four interceptions. Michigan State had 13 turnovers all season yet had five yesterday.

Let's never speak of BC football, this terrible bowl game or the stupid streak until next September. Deal?

Would They Have It Any Other Way?

There are a few things you can count on in life: death, taxes and Boston College football going to a second or third-tier bowl game. BC got their rematch with Virginia Tech in the ACC Championship but they fell in typical Eagles fashion, 30-16 on Saturday in Jacksonville.

BC (10-3) was up 10-0 and 16-7 but didn't score in the second half and saw the Hokies (11-2) reel off 23 straight points to send them to Miami for the Orange Bowl against Kansas. BC is relegated to the Champs Sports Bowl on Friday, Dec. 28 vs. 7-5 Michigan State. I could go on and on about what frauds BC are but I've been saying that for the last few months. I'd hate to be redundant. All you need to know is that a team that started 8-0 finished 2-3 against a pretty easy schedule. To quote former Cardinals coach Dennis Green, "they are who we thought they were."

Matt Ryan will be a solid NFL quarterback but his Heisman campaign is an afterthought. He probably won't even be invited to NYC. Florida QB Tim Tebow, Missouri QB Chase Daniel, Arkansas RB Darren McFadden, West Virginia QB Pat White and Hawaii QB Colt Brennan all have much better resumes and deserve the recognition over Ryan. Must be depressing too for the Superfans knowing that this was their one shot. Losing 22 seniors (including Ryan) who are so instrumental means that next season has rebuilding year written all over it. See you in Orlando.

College Football at the Heights

The 2007 college football season started with a bang yesterday as visiting Appalachian State pulled off one of the biggest upsets in history, beating #5 Michigan at the Big House. Locally, the Boston College Eagles got off to a solid start by beating the reigning ACC-Champs from Wake Forest, 38-28.

Let me just get this out of the way. I hate BC. Can't stand the people that go there, their mostly overrated teams that year after year fail to win the big game in a variety of sports and the throne that they receive by virtue of being the only true Division 1 power in New England. Full disclaimer: I didn't get accepted there coming out of high school and went to Providence College instead. It seemed like a big deal for about a day but I'm happy I went to PC and not BC. Anyways, despite all this, I still find myself reading about and watching BC sports season after season. They play hockey in the Hockey East and other sports in the ACC so they're always involved in huge contests. BC is the car crash that you find yourself staring at while you go by in traffic, the ex-girlfriend that you have no feelings for but you still somewhat keep tabs on what she's doing. It doesn't make sense but that's how we're wired.

As I watched Wake jump out to a quick 14-0 lead yesterday, I wondered which was better: to see BC lose their first game (rendering most of their remaining season useless) or letting them gain some momentum before losing an important game at the end of the season (they're M.O. in recent history). I decided to wait for the big payoff. BC complied too as the Matt Ryan led offense shined and cornerback DeJuan Tribble had a Ty Law or Asante Samuel like three interceptions. The Eagles have numerous holes: currently no running game, average defense, bad special teams but we can gloss over that for now. In New England, our pro teams are for the most part fascinating and strong. What we lack in our local sports are the lower levels: powerhouse colleges and high schools. Boston College is the only Div. 1 football team in these parts whereas almost any boonies locale in the US has a couple schools to choose from. I'll take the pro teams over the college teams any day but you have to admit that we're missing something when you venture to other places that take their college football seriously-I'm thinking of Virginia Tech and Penn State which I have seen first-hand.

BC will never have that atmosphere. The "Super Fans" at BC are mostly lame suburban kids from New England, New York and New Jersey. Plus, it's in the middle of the city, not exactly prime tailgating real estate. This could be the year though for BC. The ACC is just not very good. It's broken up into two divisions and only Virginia Tech really scares you (in the other division)and BC embarrassed them last season. With some luck, the Eagles could find themselves in the ACC Championship. Quarterback Matt Ryan is really good and there's a bunch of decent receivers for him to throw to. They need d-lineman B.J. Raji (your prototypical big fat guy in the middle) back but he might not get his eligibility and linebacker Brian Toal is out for the season with a shoulder injury. Between Ryan, Tribble, and linebacker Jolonn Dunbar, they have some stars. Here's hoping they have a great run, until that final agonizing defeat to Miami or some scumbag team.