Syracuse women’s lacrosse: Boston College preview and game thread

The Syracuse Orange women’s lacrosse team is closing out their remarkable regular season tonight with a huge, top 5 matchup with the No. 5 Boston College Eagles at the SU Soccer Stadium.

The game is scheduled for a 7 PM start and will be broadcast on the ACC Network.

There are absolutely massive implications on the line in this game for both teams.

First and foremost, the regular season ACC title is on the line between the 8-0 Orange and the 7-1 Eagles. ‘Cuse won a share of the ACC regular season title back in their first season in the league in 2014, but they have never won it outright. Subsequently, the top seed in next week’s ACC Tournament is also on the line in this game.

For SU, they are trying to complete an undefeated regular season, which would also break the program record for consecutive wins.

For Meaghan Tyrrell, she is only three points away from breaking Katie Rowan’s school points record of 396.

There is so much happening in this game. And we’ve got ourselves a sold out SU Soccer Stadium.

• All-time series: Syracuse leads 17-9
• Last meeting: Boston College W, 15-13 on April 22, 2022
• Boston College this season: 12-3, 7-1 ACC

The Eagles have won six games in a row and nine of their last 10 overall, including a complete demolition of Virginia on Saturday, 25-13, on their Senior Day.

BC has wins this season over five teams currently ranked in the Top 20 in USC, UMass, Clemson, Notre Dame, and Virginia. They suffered a one-goal loss to Northwestern back in February, got crushed by North Carolina in early March (16-5), and lost a five-goal game to undefeated Denver in mid-March.

Scouting Boston College

BC has a lot of talent on offense and a strong draw control unit. That’s a dangerous combination for a ‘Cuse team that just had a bad day against UNC at the draw circle.

The Tar Heels won 60 percent of the draws against the Orange (18-of-30) and held a huge possession advantage as a result. SU really needs to make sure they do a better job on draws against the Eagles, who in my opinion have an offense that’s more capable than UNC’s of lighting up the scoreboard given a big possession edge.

By the numbers, BC ranks 13th in the country in draw control percentage at .580 and 16th in the country in draw controls per game at 16.00. SU ranks 29th in percentage at .543 and 17th in draw wins per game at 15.67.

The BC offense is led by graduate student Jenn Medjid (No. 35, 61G, 18A), who’s one of the most lethal finishers in the country. Medjid ranks third in the entire country in both goals per game (4.36) and points per game (5.64) and leads the Eagles with 79 points on the season.

McKenna Davis (No. 3, 17G, 48A) is the team’s top distributor and second-leading scorer with 65 points, and Belle Smith (No. 5, 37G, 20A, 25GB, 11CT, 21DC) is their third-leading scorer with 57 points and is a do-everything midfielder who’s one of the best overall players in the country. Kayla Martello (No. 38, 41G, 5A) is their second-leading goal scorer with 41 goals, and the Weeks twins, Cassidy Weeks (No. 12, 22G, 7A) and Courtney Weeks (No. 6, 12G, 12A) round out the 20-point scorers on the BC offense.

Midfielder Andrea Reynolds (No. 16, 6G, 10A, 69DC) leads the team in draw control wins at 69, while middie Ryan Smith (No. 18, 8G, 62DC) is their draw taker and is second on the team with 62 draws.

The Eagles’ defense is led by a pair of juniors in Sydney Scales (No. 45, 33GB, 28CT) and Hunter Roman (No. 42, 23GB, 17CT). Scales, who last year matched up with Meaghan Tyrrell, leads the team in both ground balls and caused turnovers and is averaging almost two CTs per game. Belle Smith also factors in significantly on the defensive end, and is second on the team in GBs (25) and third in CTs (11).

Freshman Shea Dolce (No. 88) has taken over the starting goalie spot from graduate student Rachel Hall (No. 1). Dolce has started eight games this season and has played well as the starter with an 8.26 goals-against average and a .479 save percentage.