A five-goal performance earned Martello tournament MVP honors. Often overlooked on a team with so much firepower, Martello finishes 2024 with a somehow-quiet 68 goals.
“I think that at the end of the day, I don't really care what happens for me,” she said. “I want to win. I think our team buys into that, and honestly, we never really talk about any of the awards … We have one goal for the season and buy into that, and it's winning.”
After a Ryan Smith free position trickled past Molly Laliberty and cut the Northwestern lead to 8-7, the Wildcats quickly quelled the momentum. Madison Taylor went right-to-left in front of the crease for a 9-7 lead, then Izzy Scane made it 10-7.
A Boston College offense predicated on ball movement produced 10 assists on Sunday. Two great passes set up a quick 2-0 burst that again made it a one-goal game by the end of the third frame.
Davis hit LoPinto near goal line extended, and few can finish on the crease like the Florida transfer. It seemed like the Eagles might be content to head into the fourth quarter down 10-8, but Davis had other plans.
The feed-first attacker produced the offensive highlight of the game, nabbing a risky interior feed from Reynolds and deposited a backhanded goal over her left shoulder with 0.4 seconds left that sent WakeMed Soccer Park into a frenzy.
“That was outrageous,” Walker-Weinstein said. “I almost missed it. Mckenna practices that shot a lot. Every single day.”
But again, Boston College still had yet to claim its first lead. That began a tougher task when Scane opened the fourth quarter with a player-up goal for an 11-9 Northwester lead.
Positioned on the eight-meter arc, LoPinto fed a darting Clark, who also finished the equalizer with 11:05 left in the game.
For as good as LoPinto and Clark and Martello and Belle Smith and all of Boston College’s major offensive contributors were, it was Andrea Reynolds who gave the Eagles the lead — for good.