If you came into Thursday evening’s ACC bout between No. 4 Notre Dame and No. 5 Boston College to be a back-and-forth affair befitting the nature of a typical top-five matchup, then the final result was certainly surprising.

Boston College began the game on a blistering six-goal run and scored nine of the first 11 tallies, cruising to a 19-11 win in Chestnut Hill, Mass. Freshman Belle Smith led Boston College with six points (four goals, two assists), and Charlotte North recorded four goals, one assist and 11 draw controls. Rachel Hall made 11 saves.

Notre Dame, which was missing leading scorer Samantha Lynch and defensive contributor Jessi Masinko, fell into an immediate hole with North dominating in the draw circle. Madison Ahern broke the 6-0 game-opening run for BC on a free position goal with 13:40 remaining in the first half. The sluggish start was somewhat unexpected after Notre Dame took No. 1 North Carolina down to the wire last weekend in an 11-10 loss.

A three-goal run with goals by Savannah Buchanan, Andie Aldave and Jackie Wolak cut the deficit to 9-5 with 2:02 remaining in the first half, but Boston College added to its lead twice with under a minute left. North assisted Courtney Weeks to make the score 10-5, then Weeks found Jenn Medjid with just five seconds left before the break for an 11-5 lead.

Jenn Medjid beats the buzzer!!! pic.twitter.com/kfXXVMISkL

— BC Women's Lacrosse (@BCwlax) April 15, 2021

That late momentum carried into the second half. Boston College (10-1, 6-1 ACC) pushed the score to 14-5 on Smith’s 28th goal of the season, and after Ahern scored for Notre Dame (6-3, 3-3 ACC), Boston College scored twice more to get the clock running while ahead 16-6.

TURNING DEFENSE INTO OFFENSE!!! WE LEAD BY 10!! pic.twitter.com/ydXHplw7C1

— BC Women's Lacrosse (@BCwlax) April 15, 2021

Boston College last had running clock with the score 18-8, though that last just over two minutes. Aldave and Katie Enrietto scored twice for Notre Dame to prevent running clock the rest of the game, but the fact that the Eagles were able to get running clock against a stout Notre Dame defense speaks volumes.

While BC dominated the draw battle 20-13, the Eagles held only a slim lead on shots (36-31), shots on goal (27-22) and saves (11-8). The offense did assist nine of 19 goals, compared to Notre Dame’s two assists on 11 goals.

Notre Dame has a quick turnaround and a chance to avenge the loss on Saturday, as Chris Halfpenny’s bunch will again play Boston College at 12 p.m. Eastern.