STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Sam Apuzzo scored back-to-back goals late in the second half to break a 13-13 tie and lift Boston College to a 15-13 upset victory over No. 1 seed Maryland in the semifinal round of the NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship.
The Eagles will meet James Madison, a 15-12 winner over North Carolina in Friday's other semifinal, in the championship game. Neither Boston College or James Madison has ever won a national title in women's lacrosse.
Maryland, which beat Boston College 16-13 in last year's NCAA title game, came out red-hot with three straight goals in the first three minutes and they led 5-1 less than eight minutes into the game. The Terps matched their four-goal lead when Taylor Hensh scored with 16:08 left in the first half to put Maryland up 6-2.
Boston College then reeled off five straight goals, taking its first lead of the night at 7-6 on Cara Urbank's tally with 8:20 left in the half. From that point forward, neither team led by more than a single goal until Apuzzo struck for her consecutive goals.
The game was tied 8-8 at halftime, and Kali Hartshorn gave Maryland its final lead of the game at 10-9 with 26:42 remaining. The teams traded goals with Maryland scoring its last goal with 14:47 left to tie it 13-13 when Grace Griffin finished with a nice back-hander on a pass from Hartshorn.
Apuzzo scored the go-ahead goal with 8:14 left on a Tewaaraton-worthy move. Apuzzo cut back-and-forth behind the goal, causing Griffin to get tripped up on the cage, and then she wrapped around and tucked in the score in the upper right-hand corner of the goal.
Moves on moves for Sam Apuzzo. @Tewaaraton type moment with this go-ahead goal and then she adds another. @BCwlax leads 15-13 with 6 minutes left. pic.twitter.com/Vg8IG4Gts2
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) May 26, 2018
Just 48 seconds later, Apuzzo added an insurance goal and Boston College shut the Terps down for the remainder of the game.
Apuzzo led the Eagles (22-1) with four goals and played a major role in Boston College's success on the draw. After losing the first four draws of the game, Boston College ended the night with a 17-13 lead in the category. Apuzzo had 10 draw controls herself.
Dempsey Arsenault had a team-high five points (3g, 2a). Tess Chandler and Urbank each recorded hat tricks, and Lauren Daly made seven big saves for Boston College.
Hartshorn had four goals and an assist for Maryland (20-2) and Jen Giles had three goals and three assists. Hensh also had a hat trick and Megan Taylor made 13 saves.
Sunday's championship game at Stony Brook's Kenneth P. LaVelle Stadium will begin at 12 p.m. and will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU.