Northwestern v. Boston College, High Noon 5/28/2023

[LaxDadMax]

I get playing to the final whistle, but the last two goals felt a little uncalled for.

If you were there live and saw some of the jawing and cheap shots from the BC defense, that last goal was personal and Rhattigan is a stone cold killer.

[tothedraw]

KAH has always had that killer mentality. The announcers talking about her MMA inspiration only reinforced that mercy was not going to be shown.

[Essexfenwick]

Wow Big Ten members move ahead of ACC members 24-6 in ncaa titles. Very impressive group.

Are you conveniently using all of the Maryland Championships they won when they were in the ACC?

Yes I am. They are a member of the B1G and they own their championships. If NW moved to the acc they would be a member of the acc and their championships go with them (of course nobody in their right mind would move from the B1G to the acc, but anyway). Same way with the Indianapolis Colts owning the Baltimore championships.

[njbill]

Ah, Brown, I’m glad you started the goalie debate because I didn’t want to be the one.

When BC changed goalies earlier in the season, I questioned whether that was a smart thing to do. In terms of performance, it didn’t seem to me that the freshman was really outplaying the grad student. Yes, it made some sense to give the freshman some quality playing time here and there, but when they made her the full-time starter, I thought that was a mistake.

Now that the season is over, I’m not sure I was correct about that except for one thing. Loyalty. The team won a national championship with Hall. Would they have won the game today had she been in net? No, not even if she had stood on her head.

But I wonder how the rest of the team felt about the goalie change when it was made relatively early in the season? Walker is an excellent coach who, it seems, is very good at charging up her troops. I suspect she is also good at reading the locker room. I’d guess she felt that making a change would not cause dissension. Still, that was quite a potentially earthshaking move to make, and I have been wondering about how it went over with the team.

Dolce sure got a lot of very valuable experience this year, especially in the playoffs, including today. But she needs to improve in some important areas. Some of the stuff, such as the meanderings way outside of the circle and the committing of fouls leading to open net shots, is easily correctable. Fundamentally, though, she needs to be more consistent in net. I think she can be, but she has work to do.

[Bart]

Yeowch. It’s hard to be a goalie before, during and after the game.

Congratulations NW on a dominant championship run.

[Brownlax]

Yeowch. It’s hard to be a goalie before, during and after the game.

Congratulations NW on a dominant championship run.

I was a goalie and on some days you are just not seeing the ball well. That’s when a coach needs to come in and make a switch. 4 saves on 18 goals is a really bad look. If nothing else you pull her so she doesn’t continue to be shell shocked.

[Womenslaxxfan]

Wow Big Ten members move ahead of ACC members 24-6 in ncaa titles. Very impressive group.

Are you conveniently using all of the Maryland Championships they won when they were in the ACC?

Yes I am. They are a member of the B1G and they own their championships. If NW moved to the acc they would be a member of the acc and their championships go with them (of course nobody in their right mind would move from the B1G to the acc, but anyway). Same way with the Indianapolis Colts owning the Baltimore championships.

Essex. When you say nobody in their right mind would switch from big 10 to acc I presume you are speaking about the revenue sports. No doubt. But to suggest big 10 is (today) a better lax conference than acc is ridiculous. It might be if more realignment happens and unc and uva and others move. But right now it’s not even close.

[Essexfenwick]

Wow Big Ten members move ahead of ACC members 24-6 in ncaa titles. Very impressive group.

Are you conveniently using all of the Maryland Championships they won when they were in the ACC?

Yes I am. They are a member of the B1G and they own their championships. If NW moved to the acc they would be a member of the acc and their championships go with them (of course nobody in their right mind would move from the B1G to the acc, but anyway). Same way with the Indianapolis Colts owning the Baltimore championships.

Essex. When you say nobody in their right mind would switch from big 10 to acc I presume you are speaking about the revenue sports. No doubt. But to suggest big 10 is (today) a better lax conference than acc is ridiculous. It might be if more realignment happens and unc and uva and others move. But right now it’s not even close.

Unc and/or UVA would drop to their knees to get in the B1G but being invited would cause the B1G members to make less money than they are now. The B1G Will poach Texas and Florida from the SEC within 10 years. The only school in the ACC that the B1G is interested in is ND. If they don’t poach Florida, they would invite Florida State but nobody else from the acc.

[Womenslaxxfan]

Again. You’re talking football. Who cares. This forum is about women’s lax.

[Brownlax]

Again. You’re talking football. Who cares. This forum is about women’s lax.

[Womenslaxxfan]

When realignment happens. Things will change. I get it.

[Bart]

Yeowch. It’s hard to be a goalie before, during and after the game.

Congratulations NW on a dominant championship run.

I was a goalie and on some days you are just not seeing the ball well. That’s when a coach needs to come in and make a switch. 4 saves on 18 goals is a really bad look. If nothing else you pull her so she doesn’t continue to be shell shocked.

I agree with you here. Especially when her body language changed.

BTW, box said she had 7 saves.

[@inthe8m]

Again. You’re talking football. Who cares. This forum is about women’s lax.

I would love for the two to be completely separate, but they are not. Almost all, if not all, lacrosse realignment that has occurred over recent years is directly tied to football realignment.

[wlaxphan20]

Wow Big Ten members move ahead of ACC members 24-6 in ncaa titles. Very impressive group.

Are you conveniently using all of the Maryland Championships they won when they were in the ACC?

Don’t forget the ones Northwestern won before they were in the Big Ten and still in the ALC

[thedisciple516]

What the hell Boston College. Why do you save your best games for Syracuse? Why couldn't you play that way against the Orange lol. Seriously what happened? Did the rain have anything to do with it?

[ultravisitor]

I get playing to the final whistle, but the last two goals felt a little uncalled for.

If you were there live and saw some of the jawing and cheap shots from the BC defense, that last goal was personal and Rhattigan is a stone cold killer.

NU came to play, but apparently they were supposed to act like it’s the polite ladies gardening party while BC was busy fouling, throwing the ball away, and letting their goalie play ring around the rosey.

[Womenslaxxfan]

I have no issue with teams playing until the final whistle. You want them not to run up the score? Stop them.
Btw, the losing team doesn’t stop slashing and fouling with a minute left. They up the physicality. If the cats had just stood there in the corner, they would have been mugged, not left alone to run out the clock…..

[Lacrossetheworld]

Some random thoughts about today:
- Molly Laliberty has now won a national championship at DI after playing in two finals at DIII.
- Izzy Scane is northwestern’s new goals record holder and she still has another season to go.
- Dylan Amonte got to celebrate with her aunt as her coach, and can now hold her own at family gatherings with a pretty impressive sporting family
- two sets of sisters got to celebrate with their siblings today in winning a national championship - what a fabulous experience for them.
- I loved the connection between the “Sams” (White and Smith) on the draw, they were totally dominant.
- in her first year back as an assistant alexis venechanos helped the team back to a natty, her last one as a coach was in 2006 while at northwestern
- I never take for granted being able to watch this live via ESPN - how great to see the growth in the last 10 years.

[laxer12]

What the hell Boston College. Why do you save your best games for Syracuse? Why couldn't you play that way against the Orange lol. Seriously what happened? Did the rain have anything to do with it?

They did play that way against Syracuse lol. BC was just as sloppy and ineffective offensively against Syracuse as they were against Northwestern. The problem for Syracuse is they returned the favor with with their worst offensive performance of the season. SU made just enough mistakes and missed just enough wide-open shots they normally make in order for BC to scrape out yet another 1 goal win versus Cuse.

Composure is a powerful thing in sports; it's the reason BC has had the success they've had in the last several years. Syracuse won't win anything until they learn how to be "cool, calm, and collected" in big-time games and not let the moment itself become too big for them to handle.

[Brownlax]

Announced attendance was 6,705