National Championship — Northwestern vs. Boston College

[TNLAX]

Dolce was in a very difficult position not of her own making. NU ran a nifty play that fooled the BC defense. The play was bang-bang so it isn’t entirely accurate to say the defense hung her out to dry, but that was the effect. Amonte was one on none with Dolce. There was no defender to cut off one side. No defender to get a stick on a stick.

To my eyes Dolce did the right thing in not coming too far off her line. Had she done so – had she tried to stuff Amonte – Amonte could have easily flipped the ball around, behind, or over her since there was no defender to interfere with her shot.

Conventional wisdom is that goalies should stay on their feet (not jump) and should try to make saves with their stick not their feet. This isn’t field hockey or ice hockey where the shot comes from surface level and often doesn’t get higher than the reach of the tender’s foot.

Amonte showed off-stick high. Here is my one criticism of Dolce on the play. She left her feet, jumping left. I don’t think she needed to do so. I believe she is 5’10’’ and can easily get her stick up to the 6’ crossbar. By jumping left, that made it more difficult to adjust (with her stick) to a low shot which is what Amonte eventually took. And it would have made it more difficult to adjust to a stick side shot had Amonte shot there.

While normally you don’t want goalies to try to make saves with their feet, Dolce was in a desperate spot. The shot was going to beat her stick and torso. All she had left was her leg. No question it was a very athletic, skilled move to throw out her leg. Much credit to Dolce for that. At the end of the day, that is what got the job done. But to deny there was some luck involved in the ball hitting her shin/lower shin/ankle/foot (exact location is immaterial to this debate) is to deny reality, physics, and common sense. Her leg was moving parallel to the goal line while the ball was moving perpendicular to the goal line. Fortunately for Dolce and BC, the ball not only hit her lower extremity, but it bounced out instead of glancing off and going in. 8-9 times out of 10 that ball goes into the net.

In the final analysis, Dolce made the save. She did her job. All the credit in the world to her for doing that at a very critical time in the game. It takes nothing away from her to say some luck was involved. I’ll bet she would agree.

njbill - you won the race to "nifty"

[2004wrongisland]

Dolce was in a very difficult position not of her own making. NU ran a nifty play that fooled the BC defense. The play was bang-bang so it isn’t entirely accurate to say the defense hung her out to dry, but that was the effect. Amonte was one on none with Dolce. There was no defender to cut off one side. No defender to get a stick on a stick.

To my eyes Dolce did the right thing in not coming too far off her line. Had she done so – had she tried to stuff Amonte – Amonte could have easily flipped the ball around, behind, or over her since there was no defender to interfere with her shot.

Conventional wisdom is that goalies should stay on their feet (not jump) and should try to make saves with their stick not their feet. This isn’t field hockey or ice hockey where the shot comes from surface level and often doesn’t get higher than the reach of the tender’s foot.

Amonte showed off-stick high. Here is my one criticism of Dolce on the play. She left her feet, jumping left. I don’t think she needed to do so. I believe she is 5’10’’ and can easily get her stick up to the 6’ crossbar. By jumping left, that made it more difficult to adjust (with her stick) to a low shot which is what Amonte eventually took. And it would have made it more difficult to adjust to a stick side shot had Amonte shot there.

While normally you don’t want goalies to try to make saves with their feet, Dolce was in a desperate spot. The shot was going to beat her stick and torso. All she had left was her leg. No question it was a very athletic, skilled move to throw out her leg. Much credit to Dolce for that. At the end of the day, that is what got the job done. But to deny there was some luck involved in the ball hitting her shin/lower shin/ankle/foot (exact location is immaterial to this debate) is to deny reality, physics, and common sense. Her leg was moving parallel to the goal line while the ball was moving perpendicular to the goal line. Fortunately for Dolce and BC, the ball not only hit her lower extremity, but it bounced out instead of glancing off and going in. 8-9 times out of 10 that ball goes into the net.

In the final analysis, Dolce made the save. She did her job. All the credit in the world to her for doing that at a very critical time in the game. It takes nothing away from her to say some luck was involved. I’ll bet she would agree.

Amonte did a great job of faking high getting Dolce to bite and jump. But Amonte then dropped her stick ( the camera view from inside the goal shows this clearly) . Given the angle of her stick Dolce read the shot and knew it was going low. Goalies don’t wait until the ball is released , they read stick height and angles and that knowledge comes from facing tens of thousands of shots.

I won’t enter the debate of whether there was any luck involved, but it’s clear there was a helluva lot of skill to read and react to that shot, particularly in the pressure cooker of the last 25 seconds of the National Championship Game clinging to a one goal lead.

[GratefulRed]

Reading through this thread of real-time reaction is so spot on to what we were going through in the neon section. From knowing the game might be over in the first quarter, to thinking BC just might win by 5, to watching the Eagles all but give it back again. 2024 cardiac stress test--passed.

Everyone else has probably moved on, but I finally recovered enough to rewatch the game —a couple thoughts:

NU #24 KH yellow in opening minute, then BC #25 a few minutes later. 2 key defenders—would anyone here adjust the plan to attack either more directly to draw another card, or just stick to the game plan?

Shooting space and 3-sec calls felt lopsided. Nice ball movement by NU, but still. BC with 31 fouls (Season avg 12+/g). NU with 19 fouls (season avg 20).

BC defense had to start pressing in the first quarter and never let up, but they looked like the fresher team by the end of the game. Opposite of last year…was the first semi on Fri in the heat, plus rain delay, a factor?

BC #14 serving a full 2-min felt more like 20 min. Fortunately, the penalty netted zero damage thanks to a wicked shorty by Davis with 0.4 sec! How did she catch that and get a shot off?

Simultaneous yellow cards in the 4th qtr. Announcers were all over the fact that both were non-releasable (we thought so in the stadium, as well). BC scored and the Wildcat penalty released. That power play led to successful offensive possession and free position goal by #27. Still not sure what happened there?

Why did the same NU free position assist play keep working? Executed brilliantly, but could have cost BC the title if not for one of the greatest saves of all time.

Wow. Just f*cking wow.

I thought when BC turned the ball over leading 14-12 that NU would come back. So happy for the BC kids.

Grateful Red, way to go!!! What an effort.

F’n wow is right--thank you! Incredibly proud. And my hat is off to all the women across the country who gave us another great season.

[Can Opener]

Dolce was in a very difficult position not of her own making. NU ran a nifty play that fooled the BC defense. The play was bang-bang so it isn’t entirely accurate to say the defense hung her out to dry, but that was the effect. Amonte was one on none with Dolce. There was no defender to cut off one side. No defender to get a stick on a stick.

To my eyes Dolce did the right thing in not coming too far off her line. Had she done so – had she tried to stuff Amonte – Amonte could have easily flipped the ball around, behind, or over her since there was no defender to interfere with her shot.

Conventional wisdom is that goalies should stay on their feet (not jump) and should try to make saves with their stick not their feet. This isn’t field hockey or ice hockey where the shot comes from surface level and often doesn’t get higher than the reach of the tender’s foot.

Amonte showed off-stick high. Here is my one criticism of Dolce on the play. She left her feet, jumping left. I don’t think she needed to do so. I believe she is 5’10’’ and can easily get her stick up to the 6’ crossbar. By jumping left, that made it more difficult to adjust (with her stick) to a low shot which is what Amonte eventually took. And it would have made it more difficult to adjust to a stick side shot had Amonte shot there.

While normally you don’t want goalies to try to make saves with their feet, Dolce was in a desperate spot. The shot was going to beat her stick and torso. All she had left was her leg. No question it was a very athletic, skilled move to throw out her leg. Much credit to Dolce for that. At the end of the day, that is what got the job done. But to deny there was some luck involved in the ball hitting her shin/lower shin/ankle/foot (exact location is immaterial to this debate) is to deny reality, physics, and common sense. Her leg was moving parallel to the goal line while the ball was moving perpendicular to the goal line. Fortunately for Dolce and BC, the ball not only hit her lower extremity, but it bounced out instead of glancing off and going in. 8-9 times out of 10 that ball goes into the net.

In the final analysis, Dolce made the save. She did her job. All the credit in the world to her for doing that at a very critical time in the game. It takes nothing away from her to say some luck was involved. I’ll bet she would agree.

I'm glad that your position has evolved to "some luck was involved" from your original take of: "The save was more lucky than good." You are now more in line with the large majority of lacrosse fans and professional analysts who think that was one of the coolest and most dramatic saves ever made under extreme pressure.

[Lax101]

If you watch BC's complete final defensive stand which lasted more than 30 seconds it summarized how well their collective defense played together and rose to the occassion over the final 3 quarters - outscoring NU 14-7. Blown 8 meter coverage resulted in perhaps the greatest womens lacrosse save of all time. NU gets another point blank shooting opportunity that Smith back checks slightly sending the shot over the cage. Weeks then slides and pressures Coykendall resulting in a bad pass. Perhaps the best defensive stand in womens lacrosse history. It was certainly the most exciting.

[njbill]

Dolce was in a very difficult position not of her own making. NU ran a nifty play that fooled the BC defense. The play was bang-bang so it isn’t entirely accurate to say the defense hung her out to dry, but that was the effect. Amonte was one on none with Dolce. There was no defender to cut off one side. No defender to get a stick on a stick.

To my eyes Dolce did the right thing in not coming too far off her line. Had she done so – had she tried to stuff Amonte – Amonte could have easily flipped the ball around, behind, or over her since there was no defender to interfere with her shot.

Conventional wisdom is that goalies should stay on their feet (not jump) and should try to make saves with their stick not their feet. This isn’t field hockey or ice hockey where the shot comes from surface level and often doesn’t get higher than the reach of the tender’s foot.

Amonte showed off-stick high. Here is my one criticism of Dolce on the play. She left her feet, jumping left. I don’t think she needed to do so. I believe she is 5’10’’ and can easily get her stick up to the 6’ crossbar. By jumping left, that made it more difficult to adjust (with her stick) to a low shot which is what Amonte eventually took. And it would have made it more difficult to adjust to a stick side shot had Amonte shot there.

While normally you don’t want goalies to try to make saves with their feet, Dolce was in a desperate spot. The shot was going to beat her stick and torso. All she had left was her leg. No question it was a very athletic, skilled move to throw out her leg. Much credit to Dolce for that. At the end of the day, that is what got the job done. But to deny there was some luck involved in the ball hitting her shin/lower shin/ankle/foot (exact location is immaterial to this debate) is to deny reality, physics, and common sense. Her leg was moving parallel to the goal line while the ball was moving perpendicular to the goal line. Fortunately for Dolce and BC, the ball not only hit her lower extremity, but it bounced out instead of glancing off and going in. 8-9 times out of 10 that ball goes into the net.

In the final analysis, Dolce made the save. She did her job. All the credit in the world to her for doing that at a very critical time in the game. It takes nothing away from her to say some luck was involved. I’ll bet she would agree.

I'm glad that your position has evolved to "some luck was involved" from your original take of: "The save was more lucky than good." You are now more in line with the large majority of lacrosse fans and professional analysts who think that was one of the coolest and most dramatic saves ever made under extreme pressure.

Yes it did evolve. That was my original take, watching it live, but after watching the replay a few times, it was apparent Dolce intentionally moved her leg in the direction of the shot. I'm glad you agree with my analysis of the play including that some luck was involved with the ball hitting her lower leg/ankle/foot.

Not a fan of current culture's need to pronounce everything that just happened "the greatest ever." It was a big save at a key moment in the championship game. Greatest ever? Not interested enough to do a deep dive on that. It was not a "make the save or my team loses" type of save such as saves in OT games in championship games in the past. Also while 30 secs isn't a lot of time, NU got two more good looks. On one the shot went over the crossbar. On the other the feeder and attacker failed to connect. If Dolce doesn't make that save, there is still about 30 secs to go in the game. Maybe one team scores. Or maybe the game goes to OT. Kinda like Brady's fumble in the Super Bowl. Lucky for the Eagles the ball bounced directly to Barnett. Skill by Barnett to catch the ball and control it. But there was still time left in the game. The Patriots got the ball back with a chance to tie the game. Neither were true "end of game" plays.

[cdb]

Fact: Shea Dulce had made that same kick save at least 2 prior times during the season, the most recent coming in the Syracuse game, but at a much less crucial time in the game. The BC players spent hours studying the NW game film. I expected NW would spend similar time doing the same, so they would have been ready for Dolce's move.

Fact: NW had lost an 8 goal lead in the final quarter of the 2022 Semis and Coach promised it would not happen again. Yet, BC outscored NW 2-1 for the last 3 quarters of the national championship game.

In that "lucky play" Dulce leaves the bottom of her net open to entice a shot to that side -- if the NW attackers had studied the game film, they would have known that this was the shot that Dulce wanted -- I personally believe if Izzy had been the one to take that shot, she would have waited until the goalie over-committed and then scored -- especially with no one on her. And with NW draw control throwing the ball to the same side near the sideline and a skilled midfielder like Madison getting their first, it is more than possible that NW would have won this game. But all of that is woulda, coulda, shoulda.

Fact: Perhaps NW best passer threw the ball behind a wide open attacker to end the game. That had happened all season. But it was such a pressure time. And, if BC had not thrown the ball out of bounds as an unforced error in the last 2 minutes, they probably would have kept the ball long enough to make a comeback impossible.

I have watched many women's games this year of various teams -- I cannot believe the sense of sportsmanship, dignity, respect for the other, ad fair play I have seen from all the women. It was unexpected and very impressive.

Next year, both schools have some rebuilding to do. Both have many excellent returning players, but NW has to rebuild the attack and BC has to rebuild the defense. Both have two of the best coaches in the game, so I am betting both will be successful.

Women's Lacrosse is beginning to take off -- as a man, I am awed by the athleticism it takes to play the game -- being able to run like a gazelle at sprint speeds while in an anaerobic condition -- on defense with legs bent like a defensive basketball player, using such strong core -- and passing the ball with such accuracy and strength -- and type of shooting, stick, and attack skills required -- this is not a sport for the weak -- and because of that, it is more than entertaining -- and the cost of attending a women's college Lacrosse game is usually less than the cost of going to the movies -- to see some of the best teams and athletes in the country. I am all in.

[Can Opener]

Good stuff, CDB. Thank you.

[GratefulRed]

+1