Taylor Cummings is a three-time Tewaaraton Award winner, a member of the U.S. women’s national team, the inaugural Athletes Unlimited Lacrosse champion and the head coach at McDonogh (Md.). “Taylor’s Takes” is presented by Gait Lacrosse. Be legendary.
The nation’s top two teams — Boston College and North Carolina — faced off Sunday, and the game lived up to every ounce of the hype it received.
The afternoon felt like a rollercoaster ride in more ways than one but ended with UNC hanging on for a 16-15 ACC win at BC’s Alumni Stadium in front of almost 6,000 screaming fans. Many writers, fans and Twitter users went back and forth in the days leading up to the matchup about which team would prevail, what would make the difference and who would need to step up to seal the victory. Common themes surrounding goalkeeping, offensive star power, draw controls and the consistency of the team as a whole came up time and again in discussions and articles.
Now that the game is over and the Tar Heels finished on top, it’s time to analyze where each team succeeded and where there are areas to improve for both programs as they move forward. One thing is for certain, though — the lacrosse community is definitely hoping for another rendition of BC-UNC in postseason play because that game was sure fun to watch.
Who won the draw control battle? No one.
Draws were even at 18 apiece in this game, but the timing of the draw wins ultimately contributed to the runs each team went on throughout the game. In the second quarter, UNC won four of the five draws and went on a four-goal run to close the half. Similarly, in their comeback efforts, the Eagles won five of seven draws in the fourth quarter to cut the Tar Heels’ lead to one goal. When you’re able to play almost a “make it, take it” style at the center circle, it often leads to offensive success and a rested defense.
The battle of centers was also interesting in this game. Charlotte North took all the draws for the Eagles, while the Tar Heels rotated between Ally Mastroianni and Olivia Dirks. By using two centers, UNC was often able to counter North’s self-draw and keep her out of rhythm from finding the ball in the air cleanly, but the pairing of North and Hollie Schleicher were still able to secure 13 off the ground alone. Mastroianni and Dirks combined for 10 of 18 draws for UNC.
Who won the games within the game — Jamie Ortega-v-Sydney Scales and Charlotte North-v-Emma Trenchard? All did.
Big games often lead to big-time performances from top players, both offensive weapons and defensive studs. In this 1-v-2 matchup, leaders on both ends of the field for each team stepped up when called upon and threw some punches as well as they took them.
When looking at the stat sheet, one would see that BC’s Scales shut down UNC’s Ortega relatively well production-wise, limiting her to one goal and two assists thanks to her superb footwork and unrelenting pressure. Ortega had moments of brilliance, though, and the timing of some of her goals and assists came at key moments.
Similarly, UNC’s Trenchard did well at limiting North’s offensive numbers, particularly in the first half. She was able to force low-angle shots with great on-ball pressure. But just like Ortega, North made her presence known when the game was on the line late in the fourth quarter. She, too, made some key shots in key moments.
In my opinion, all four players did their jobs extremely well and made each other work hard in every single moment of the game.