No. 17 Boston College

2020 Record: 4-3
Pre-COVID Ranking: 20th

On paper, Charlotte North and Rachel Hall are quite different players.  

North is a goal-scoring attacker from Dallas who spent the first part of her college career in the South at Duke. Hall is a goal-saving keeper from a Houston suburb who played her first season of lacrosse in the Pacific Northwest at Oregon.  

Their circuitous paths have led to the same place in the Northeast: Boston College, where they both transferred in the summer of 2019. They’ve yet to play a complete season together. BC’s shortened 2020 campaign only lasted seven games. But since the duo’s arrival in Chestnut Hill, they’ve established a partnership that guided the Eagles through the pandemic-induced offseason. 

“They have this fun-loving, goofy, energetic connection that’s really electric, and the girls have followed in their footsteps,” coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein said. “We’ve always been very intense and very serious, and that has worked, but it’s just a breath of fresh air with Charlotte and Rachel.” 

2020 was always going to be a rebuilding year. BC graduated three program greats in Sam Apuzzo, Dempsey Arsenault and Kenzie Kent after their run to the 2019 NCAA championship game. 

The additions of Hall and North were meant to hasten the process. Hall totaled 65 saves in seven starts for Boston College; at 45.8 percent, her save percentage was slightly lower than it had been her freshman year with the Ducks, but she did help to hold then-No. 2 Notre Dame to its lowest goal total of the season in the Eagles’ 11-7 loss. North powered Boston College’s entire offensive attack, tallying 23 goals, 12 assists and 56 draw controls.  

The two Texas natives are the biggest names on the Eagles’ list of returnees, but they’ll be joined by a host of young players who earned starting roles. Attacker Jenn Medjid was a key player off the bench during the 2019 run and established herself as one of Boston College’s top scoring threats in 2020. Midfielder Cassidy Weeks, then a redshirt freshman who missed her first season with an injury, made her first career start in the Eagles’ season opener against UMass and had a career-best four goals in their season finale win over Hofstra. True freshman midfielder Annie Walsh came in off the bench in four games and made huge strides in the offseason, Walker-Weinstein said. 

The Eagles also welcomed 11 freshmen to campus in the fall. Headlined by midfielder Belle Smith, who played alongside Hall on the gold medal-winning 2019 U.S. U19 team, the group has the potential to make an impact for Boston College right away. 

“They were so engaged, and I’m grateful that they just brought such a good level of intensity to practice. They’re very quick learners, which is exactly what we were hoping for,” Walker-Weinstein said. “I believe they’re going to be perhaps the most impactful freshman class that we’ve ever had.” 

The road back to the NCAA tournament won’t be without its share of obstacles. Notre Dame was the lone ACC opponent the Eagles faced in 2020, and the conference promises to be as stacked and loaded as ever.  

With Hall and North leading from opposite sides of the field, and some revamped systems and strategies, BC is ready for the challenge.