For all of the excitement and craziness that has been the 2021 women’s lacrosse season, we have chalk moving into the Final Four.

North Carolina, Northwestern, Syracuse and Boston College — the top four national seeds, in that order — are off to Towson, Md., for Championship Weekend. The semifinals kick off Friday afternoon.

Of the four quarterfinal matchups Saturday, one was great (UNC-Stony Brook), one was relatively close (Syracuse-Florida) and two were one-sided (Northwestern-Duke and Boston College-Notre Dame).

Where does that leave us moving into this weekend? Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s talk about how we got here.

BEST GAME
North Carolina-Stony Brook

Perhaps ironically, the best game of the weekend was between the undefeated top seed and the perennial underdog in Stony Brook, the eighth seed.

Taryn Ohlmiller gave Stony Brook a two-goal lead with 8:41 to play, signaling just how far the Seawolves had come since a season-opening 14-7 loss to the Tar Heels. But UNC flexed its depth in its first true nail-biter of the season, getting five goals from five different players to close the game.

Jamie Ortega and Katie Hoeg were, as usual, pivotal during that stretch, but Kayla Wood, Tayler Warehime and others were equally as impactful.

BIGGEST SURPRISE
BC’s blowout win

They say it’s hard to beat a team three times in one season. Let alone doing so in the ACC.

Not only did Boston College finish a third win over Notre Dame this spring. The Eagles did it in utterly dominant fashion. After wins of 19-11 and 18-12 in the regular season, Boston College thumped the Irish 21-10 behind another eight goals from Charlotte North.

The surprise wasn’t that BC won, but the manner in which it did. The Eagles limited the Irish to just 16 shots on goal and won 22 of 30 draws.

SURPRISE THAT WASN’T
Northwestern’s performance

Could the Big Ten hang with the ACC? Did Northwestern truly deserve the No. 2 seed?

These questions probably could have been answered with the eye test, but now there’s tangible proof. Duke got out to an early lead against the Wildcats on Saturday, but Northwestern scored 21 of the final 25 goals — yes, you read that right — to advance to the semifinals.

Northwestern is more than just the Izzy Scane Show, though she’s a big reason why nobody should want to play Northwestern in the Final Four.

BEST INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE
Emma Ward, Syracuse

The freshman phenom scored a career-high six goals with one assist in Syracuse’s 17-11 win over Florida. It’s reasonable to assume Ward would have played more of a supportive role on this team had Emily Hawryschuk and Megan Carney not gone down with season-ending ACL injuries, but she’s done more than make up for their losses.

TEWAARATON WATCH

Charlotte North, Boston College: The Texas phenom had eight goals and one assist, raising her season totals to 94 goals and 105 points. She’s six goals from tying the single-season NCAA record held by Courtney Murphy.

Izzy Scane, Northwestern: Like North, Scane is also close to Murphy’s record. She had five goals and two assists to raise her season totals to 94 goals and 117 points.

Jamie Ortega, North Carolina: Key in prompting UNC’s comeback win over Stony Brook, Ortega had four goals and three assists for her seventh game this season of at least seven points.

Taylor Moreno, North Carolina: She made eight saves and let in 11 goals in her team’s 14-11 win.

NUMBERS OF NOTE

12

The combined points from sisters Meaghan and Emma Tyrrell in Syracuse’s 17-11 win over Florida. Older sister Meaghan Tyrrell had three goals and three assists, and younger sister Emma Tyrrell had four goals and two assists.

10

The number of draws controlled by Hollie Schleicher, one of Boston College’s many threats on the circle outside of Charlotte North. BC won 22 of 30 draws against Notre Dame.

413

The number of career points for Taryn Ohlmiller. She capped her fifth year with her third 100-point campaign.

11

Combined goals by Lauren Gilbert (six) and Scane (five) in Northwestern’s 22-10 win over Duke. One of the best one-two punches in the country, they’ll face Syracuse’s vaunted defense on Friday.