Last Updated 6:20 PM, May 27, 2024

Boston College defeats Northwestern to win the 2024 NCAA women’s lacrosse championship

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BC vs. Northwestern: 2024 NCAA women's lacrosse championship highlights
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6:40 pm, May 26, 2024

Boston College wins the 2024 DI women's lacrosse championship

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Boston College won the 2024 DI women's lacrosse championship, defeating Northwestern 14-13. Click or tap here for stats from the game.

Boston College rallied from a 6-0 first quarter deficit to win the game. Kayla Martello led the second quarter rally with four of her game-leading five goals, and overall, four Eagles scored multiple goals. Defensively, sophomore goalie Shea Dolce stepped up huge after a rough opening to the game, finishing with nine saves. When Dolce wasn't stopping shots on goal, she was jump-starting transition attempts, pushing the ball down field. It was an impressive effort from the team as a whole, never giving up despite trailing for the first three quarters.

In the win, the Eagles avenged its title game loss to Northwestern last year (2023) and avoided losing three straight national championships (lost to North Carolina in 2022). It's a bookend championship for Boston College's seniors, previously winning the national title in 2021. In total, the Eagles have played in the last seven DI women's lacrosse games since 2017, winning two titles.

6:34 pm, May 26, 2024

One goal game! 55 seconds to play — BC 14, NW 13

Izzy Scane! The Northwestern star scored her 88th goal of the season — 5th of the game — with 55 seconds to play. Boston College leads 14-13. It all comes down to this. 

6:28 pm, May 26, 2024

Back and forth we go! — BC 14, NW 12

The Northwesterns all-time leading goal scorer Izzy Scane cut the lead to 13-12 with 4:56 to play and then had a chance to tie it up. However, Boston College's goalie Shea Dolce made the save on Scane's shot then kick-started a fastbreak that led to a transition goal from Mckenna Davis. 

After all that, Boston College still leads by two goals, 14-12, with 4:02 to play.

6:22 pm, May 26, 2024

Boston College adds insurance — BC 13, NW 11

Not 1, Not 2, Not 3, Not 4, but 5 goals for Boston College's Kayla Martello. Martello's first goal since the second quarter put the Eagles up 13-11 with 5:55 to play.

6:06 pm, May 26, 2024

Boston College takes the lead — BC 12, NW 11

The fourth quarter opened with a power-play goal from Northwestern's Izzy Scane — her third of the day — to put the Wildcats back up two scores. Yet, Boston College answered with a goal from Rachel Clark after a defensive three second penalty. 

Rachel Clark's scoring didn't end there; a transition goal with 11:05 to play gave Boston College its first tie of the game.Then a missed shot led to a rebound for Andrea Reynolds that she scooped up and shot to take BC's first lead of the game. Boston College is on a 5-1 run with 9:39 left to play.

6:00 pm, May 26, 2024

Third quarter: One score game — NW 10, BC 9

A last-second goal from Boston College's Mckenna Davis cut Northwestern's lead to one point, 10-9.  The score capped off an exciting period that saw five goals scored.

Northwestern pulled in front by three goals after Madison Taylor and Izzy Scane scored their third and first goals of the game, respectively. However, Emma LoPinto's second goal cut the deficit back to two. 

One quarter remains between Northwestern and Boston College for a national championship.

5:13 pm, May 26, 2024

Halftime: Boston College rallies — NW 8, BC 6

It was the Kayla Martello show in the second quarter as Boston College rallied from an 0-6 first quarter deficit. Martello scored four goals during the second quarter with Boston College scoring six goals in that quarter alone.

Northwestern's offense cooled off from its hot start only scoring two goals in the period from Lindsey Frank and Izzy Scane. 

4:55 pm, May 26, 2024

Boston College on the board! NW 6, BC 1

Boston College scored its first points of the game with a beautiful behind-the-back goal from Emma LoPinto.

4:36 pm, May 26, 2024

First quarter: Northwestern dominates 6-0

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Northwestern dominated the first quarter against Boston College in the national championship game, leading 6-0 after the first frame. The Wildcats starting things off with a goal from Erin Coykendall less than four minutes into the game. From there it was an on slaught with goals from Dylan Amonte, Madison Taylor and Mary Schumar to go up 4-0.

Taylor and Coykendall, respectively, each added another goal as Northwestern converted on six of its 11 shots on goal. The Wildcats gave Boston College its largest deficit of the season in the first quarter.

Defensively, goalie Molly Laliberty had two saves on three shots on goal.

4:14 pm, May 26, 2024

Northwestern strikes first — NW 1, BC 0

Northwestern scored the first goal of the women's lacrosse national title game. Watch the goal below.

4:12 pm, May 25, 2024

👀 What the stats say

Here is a statistical breakdown comparing the Fighting Irish and the Pioneers.

Northwestern STATS Boston College
18-2 Record 19-3
344-199 Goals for-against 358-181
.493 Shot percentage .484
.467 Free-Position percentage .520
358-245 Draw Controls for-against 326-281
Izzy Scane, 83 Goals leader Rachel Clark, 76
Madison Taylor, 112 Points leader Rachel Clark, 95
Molly Laliberty, 16-2 (10.45 GAA)
.435 save %		 Goalkeeping Shea Dolce, 19-3 (8.53 GAA)
.474 save %
4:07 pm, May 25, 2024

📖 Championship History

The NCAA DI women's lacrosse national championship dates back to 1982, skipping 2020 due to COVID-19, with the first national title going to UMass after defeating TCNJ 9-6. Maryland holds the most national titles at 14.

Northwestern won the 2023 national title by dominating Boston College 18-6. This was Northwestern's and head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller's first title since winning seven out of eight championships between 2005-12. Here is a list of every DI women's lacrosse national champion:

YEAR CHAMPION COACH SCORE RUNNER-UP SITE
2023 Northwestern Kelly Amonte Hiller 18-6 Boston College Cary, N.C.
2022 North Carolina Jenny Levy 12-11 Boston College Baltimore, Md.
2021 Boston College Acacia Walker-Weinstein 16-10 Syracuse Towson, Md.
2020 Canceled due to COVID-19 -- -- -- --
2019 Maryland Cathy Reese 12-10 Boston College Baltimore, Md.
2018 James Madison Shelley Klaes-Bawcombe 16-15 Boston College Stony Brook, N.Y. 
2017 Maryland Cathy Reese 16-13 Boston College Foxborough, Mass. 
2016 North Carolina Jenny Levy 13-7 Maryland Chester, Pa.
2015 Maryland Cathy Reese 9-8 North Carolina Chester, Pa.
2014 Maryland Cathy Reese 15-12 Syracuse Towson, Md.
2013 North Carolina Jenny Levy 13-12 (3OT) Maryland Villanova
2012 Northwestern Kelly Amonte Hiller 8-6 Syracuse Stony Brook
2011 Northwestern Kelly Amonte Hiller 8-7 Maryland Stony Brook
2010 Maryland Cathy Reese 13-11 Northwestern Towson
2009 Northwestern Kelly Amonte Hiller 21-7 North Carolina Towson
2008 Northwestern Kelly Amonte Hiller 10-6 Penn Towson
2007 Northwestern Kelly Amonte Hiller 15-13 Virginia Penn
2006 Northwestern Kelly Amonte Hiller 7-4 Dartmouth Boston University
2005 Northwestern Kelly Amonte Hiller 13-10 Virginia Navy
2004 Virginia Julie Myres 10-4 Princeton Princeton
2003 Princeton Chris Sailer 8-7 (OT) Virginia Syracuse
2002 Princeton Chris Sailer 12-7 Georgetown Loyola (Md.)
2001 Maryland Cindy Timchal 14-13 (OT) Georgetown Johns Hopkins
2000 Maryland Cindy Timchal 16-8 Princeton TCNJ
1999 Maryland Cindy Timchal 16-6 Virginia Johns Hopkins
1998 Maryland Cindy Timchal 11-5 Virginia UMBC
1997 Maryland Cindy Timchal 8-7 Loyola (Md.) Lehigh
1996 Maryland Cindy Timchal 10-5 Virginia Lehigh
1995 Maryland Cindy Timchal 13-5 Princeton TCNJ
1994 Princeton Chris Sailer 10-7 Maryland Maryland
1993 Virginia Jane Miller 8-6 (OT) Princeton Maryland
1992 Maryland Cindy Timchal 11-10 (OT) Havard Lehigh
1991 Virginia Jane Miller 8-6 Maryland TCNJ
1990 Harvard Carole Kleinfelder 8-7 Maryland Princeton
1989 Penn State Susan Scheetz 7-6 Harvard West Chester
1988 Temple Tina Sloan Green 15-7 Penn State Haverford
1987 Penn State Susan Scheetz 7-6 Temple Maryland
1986 Maryland Sue Tyler 11-10 Penn State Maryland
1985 New Hampshire Marisa Didio 6-5 Maryland Penn
1984 Temple Tina Sloan Green 6-4 Maryland Boston University
1983 Delaware Janet Smith 10-7 Temple Penn
1982 Massachusetts Pamela Hixon 9-6 TCNJ TCNJ

Note: Before 2001, this championship was a national collegiate championship.

3:56 pm, May 25, 2024

🤔 How they got here

The top two seeds in the tournament square off. Both teams earned an opening round bye, then beat each of their three opponents by 3+ goals on the way to the title game.

Here's the full tournament breakdown for each team:

No. 1 Northwestern

No. 2 Boston College:

3:50 pm, May 25, 2024

📺 How to watch: Northwestern vs. Boston College

No. 1 Northwestern and No. 2 Boston College meet in the 2024 NCAA DI women's lacrosse national championship. Here's a look at how to watch:

  • 👀 Who: No. 1 Northwestern vs. No. 2 Boston College
  • 🗓️ When: 12 p.m. ET Sunday, May 26
  • 📍 Where: WakeMed Soccer Park | Cary, NC
  • 📺 TV: ESPN
  • 📈 Live Stats