Maryland wins 14th NCAA women's lax title, serves Boston College 3rd consecutive runner-up finish
The top two teams in the NCAA Division I women’s lacrosse polls squared off in the championship Sunday with Maryland defeating Boston College, 12-10, in a game that kept the course for both programs.
It was another oh-so-close moment for Boston College, which is still without a women’s championship in any team sport in school history. It’s the third consecutive loss in the title game for the Eagles.
Maryland won its fifth title under head coach Cathy Reese and remains the winningest program in collegiate women’s lacrosse. The Terps are such a force, it’s odd when they don’t win.
Maryland continues domination
Top-ranked Maryland took the 8-4 lead at the half at Johns Hopkins' Homewood Field and held off a late Boston College rally to send their seniors out with a second championship.
🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
For the 1️⃣4️⃣th time in program history, @MarylandWLax can call themselves NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!#NCAAWLAX pic.twitter.com/ZqvbRAKZCL— NCAA Lacrosse (@NCAALAX) May 26, 2019
Junior Brindi Griffin and sophomore Grace Griffin each had a hat trick. Brindi did it on five shots, three on goal, and Grace took four shots on goal.
Jen Giles, Carolina Steele and Kali Hartshorn had two goals apiece to complete the scoring. Five players notched an assist.
Megan Taylor had 10 saves in goal. It was her second consecutive double-digit save performance.
Boston College remains runner-up
The Eagles are so close but again finish as NCAA runner-up. It’s the third consecutive year after a 16-13 loss to Maryland in 2017 and a 16-15 loss to James Madison in 2018.
Boston College came into the title game with the fourth-most goals per game in the country at 17.13 and were fresh off a double overtime win against North Carolina. The Eagles trailed by five goals, 10-5, with 20 minutes left and mounted a comeback that fell just short.
Kenzie Kent led with a game-high eight goals, including the final two with less than four minutes to play. She added one assist.
Senior Sam Apuzzo had a hat trick and added an assist. Dempsey Arsenault and Cara Urbank added a goal each. Lauren Daly made eight saves. Her stop with 2:34 to play kept the Eagles within two.
The school is still looking for its first women’s team championship. Kent was a two-sport athlete for three years before deciding to focus on hockey as a senior last year. She was a member of the 2015-16 Eagles women’s hockey team that finished runner-up to Minnesota, which has the most titles at six.
Kent switched back for one more year in lacrosse as a graduate student, but she and Apuzzo couldn’t help the team past the runner-up hump.
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