Syracuse gave Boston College its toughest test of the regular season and the Orange had the No. 1 ranked Eagles on the ropes on a rainy Friday night in the Atlantic Coast Conference semifinals, but BC scored four goals in the final seven minutes of the game to post a 14-13 victory.
The game was tied eight times before No. 4 Syracuse (15-4) went on a four-goal run to take a 13-10 lead on Meaghan Tyrrell’s goal with 8:10 remaining in the contest.
Syracuse dominated the draw for most of the game, but following Tyrrell’s goal, Sam Apuzzo won the draw and Dempsey Arsenault converted a man-up goal to cut the Orange lead to 13-11 with 6:53 left.
Syracuse won the next draw, but BC goalie Lauren Daly, who came on in relief of starter Abbey Ngai in the second half, made a big stop to give the Eagles the ball and Cara Urbank scored on an assist from Arsenault with 5:29 left.
Apuzzo won the next draw for BC, but the Eagles turned the ball over to Syracuse. BC’s defense came up big in forcing a long clearing opportunity and Syracuse ultimately turned it back over on a shot clock violation
Syracuse goalie Asa Goldstock saved a free position attempt with just over two minutes to play, but the Orange turned it over on the clear and Apuzzo tied the game with just 1:40 to play.
BC won the draw and converted as Taylor Walked buried a backhand shot from Arsenault with just 17 seconds to play to give the Eagles a 14-13 advantage.
Syracuse’s Emily Hawryschuk was awarded the ensuing draw after a violation on the Eagles, but Apuzzo caused a turnover to deny the Orange a final chance to tie the game.
Arsenault led the Eagles (19-0) with three goals and two assists and Apuzzo and Walker each had hat tricks. Hawryschuk led the Orange with four goals and 12 draw controls.
The second ACC semifinal between Duke and North Carolina was postponed until Saturday at noon due to storms. The winner of that game will meet Boston College on Sunday in the championship game.
Pac-12 Tournament
No. 18 USC scored the first five goals of the game and cruised to a 16-5 victory over Cal in the semifinal round of the Pac-12 tournament at the University of Oregon. Izzy McMahon led the Trojans with five goals. McMahon scored four of her goals in the first half to help the Trojans to a 12-2 halftime lead.
USC is making its first appearance in the Pac-12 championship game and will meet Colorado on Sunday for the title. The Buffs started slow against No. 19 Stanford, but then poured it on in a 16-9 victory.
Stanford led 4-2 a little over 10 minutes into the game before Colorado scored eight goals in the final 17 minutes of the first half to take a 10-7 halftime lead. Stanford scored first to open the second half, but Colorado answered with five straight goals to take command.
Sadie Grozier scored five goals to lead the Buffs and Miranda Stinson added four goals and two assists. Julia Lisella made 12 saves to earn the win. Stanford was led by Areta Buness with three goals.
Atlantic 10 Tournament
Top-seeded Massachusetts got six goals from senior Kiley Anderson to down Saint Joseph’s 20-11 in the Atlantic 10 semifinal round. Kaitlyn Cerasi added four goals and three assists in the game with featured more than a two-hour delay for lightning.
UMass will meet Richmond in a rematch of last year’s A-10 championship game, which Richmond won 12-11 in overtime to end Massachusetts’ run of nine straight Atlantic 10 championships.
The Spiders advanced to the championship game by blitzing No. 2 seed and tournament host George Mason 19-4. Marissa Brown led the Spiders offense with four goals and four assists and Megan Gianforte made nine saves while allowing just three goals.