Lax in Elite Eight

Kenzie Kent, left, celebrates one of her four goals in BC’s 21-9 win over Colorado.

The BC lacrosse team defeated Pac-12 rep Colorado, 21-9, today in the second round of the NCAA women’s lacrosse tournament at the Newton Campus Fields. Seeded #2 nationally, the Eagles (20-1), who had a bye in the first round, will meet Princeton May 18 or 19, again on the Newton Campus.

The teams played evenly during the first 10 minutes, being tied 3-3. BC then scored 11 straight goals and led 14-4 at halftime. Sam Apuzzo had six of BC’s 14 goals in the first half and added another to score seven in the game, the most by any Eagle in an NCAA tournament game. She added three assists for 10 points total in the game.

Kenzie Kent, most valuable player in the 2017 national championship game, scored four goals and had five assists. 

BC has played in the last two national championship games, losing in close games to Maryland and James Madison.

Sam Apuzzo, left, and Dempsey Arsenault, among five finalists for the Tewaaraton Award.

Apuzzo, winner of last year’s Tewaaraton Award as the nation’s top female collegiate lacrosse player, has been named among five finalists for the award this year. Joining her among the finalists is teammate Dempsey Arsenault, a first for BC. Apuzzo was recently named the ACC Attacker of the Year and Arsenault the conference Midfielder of the Year, another first for BC. On May, Apuzzo received the female Eagle of the Year Award from BC Athletics.

Lax enters NCAAs

BC Lacrosse is the #2 national seed entering the NCAA Tournament. The Eagles are hosting an initial round of the tournament on the Newton Campus and will meet the winner of Dartmouth/Colorado on Sunday, May 12.

The Eagles (19-1) suffered their first loss of the season on April 28 when North Carolina defeated BC, 15-13, in the ACC Championship game.

#1 seed for the tournament is Maryland, which also suffered its first defeat of the season when it lost to Northwestern in the Big 10 Tournament championship game.

The San Diego Chapter will hold a gamewatch if the Eagles advance to the national championship game for the third year in a row. The game is scheduled for May 26.

Eagles and Irish blast away

A dozen BC and Notre Dame alumni (and friends) from San Diego met on the battlefield Saturday in friendly “combat” at The Paintball Park, Camp Pendleton.

Prior to the match, without paintball “wounds.” L-R: Eagles Matt Landa JD’13, Kevin Calkins ’00, Nick Hurt ’00, Bill McDonald ’68, Jon Smallwood, Brian Tsu ’00 and Irish Joe White ’09, Quinn Kilpatrick ’13, Josh Shambaugh ’14, Katie Wehner ’13, Roger Sammon ’14, Mychael Medina.

As no one on either team had done this before, we opted for “Paintball Lite.” That means smaller and less powerful guns, smaller and less painful paintballs, no bruises . . . except to pride. Over a couple of hours, the teams competed in several different venues at the park. To be honest, the Golden Domers were generally better at it this time than the Eagles, who are aiming at a rematch.

Here’s a brief (<4 mins) video of some of the action: