Senior re-do for Chandler
Gets 2nd chance for BC
Boston College attacker Tess Chandler has made exceptional use of an incredibly rare do-over in intercollegiate athletics.
The redshirt senior from Hopkinton and three-year team captain will be a central component of the Eagles offense when BC hosts the second round of the NCAA Division 1 women’s lacrosse championships on Sunday (1 p.m.) at the Newton Lacrosse and Soccer Complex.
BC (19-1) went undefeated in the regular season and won a school record 19 straight games before falling to North Carolina, 14-11, in the ACC title match on April 29. BC earned the No.4 seed with a first-round bye in the NCAA tournament and will take on the winner of today’s preliminary clash between Princeton and Syracuse.
“Everything happens for a reason and I didn’t come into this season with any expectations,” said Chandler. “I was just happy to be able to play again with my teammates.”
Chandler’s zero “expectations” morphed into a career-high 36 goals on 70 shots that included at least one tally in 19 games. Chandler pushed her career totals to 107 goals and 142 points, numbers that probably seemed imaginable on Feb. 15, 2017, during a 1311 win over Boston University.
Chandler was in the process of making a play in the Terriers’ zone when she suffered a torn ACL in her left knee. That’s a devastating blow to a senior on a team destined for big things, but happened early enough in the campaign to justify a medical redshirt.
“I was dodging and came close to the crease and stopped and I got pushed from behind,” said Chandler. “I knew right away a disaster had just happened.”
Rehab is as time consuming as practice, and Chandler went on the mend while the Eagles enjoyed their finest season in program history. BC went 17-7 and advanced to the NCAA title game before falling to No. 1 Maryland 16-13 in a memorable engagement at Gillette Stadium.
Chandler felt a captain’s pride for the team’s success and a measure of heartache being removed from the process. BC coach Acacia WalkerWeinstein, the 2017 national Coach of the Year, found proper use of Chandler’s lacrosse IQ on the sidelines.
“She actually became one of our coaches and she was running the box for us, which is basically running our midfield lines in and out of the box,” said Walker-Weinstein. “It is one of the critical positions and we were down a staff member last year and Tess just kind of filled in.”
The residual affects of the wounded knee forced Chandler to assume a new role in the BC offense. The old Chandler was a dodge, cut and shoot attacker. The new player uses her 6-foot athletic frame to secure position in the middle and played catch and shoot.
“I used to be a dodger but coming back from an ACL you don’t have power, strength and speed in the first month,” said Chandler. “The coaches did a good job transitioning me into the middle and I can be a big target in there.”