Eagles look to soar
Women’s lax seeking elusive national title
It might be three strikes and Boston College is out. But, maybe not.
The Eagles, after three cracks at a national title, graduated one of the most talented classes in program history. That isn’t easy to replace, but Boston College has done the work to remain one of the top-five teams in the country heading into the season.
Charlotte North enters the fold as one of the most highprofile transfers of the season from Duke. She has big — perhaps impossible — shoes to fill with Sam Apuzzo graduating, but that will be the type of role North will be asked to play.
Cara Urbank and Abbey Ngai will return, and they’ll be relied on more heavily than ever before. Apuzzo, Dempsey Arsenault and Kenzie Kent are near impossible players to replace, but the Eagles seem to have found competitive players to remain one of the toughest teams to beat in the country.
The Eagles’ schedule isn’t easy, either. Instead of out-ofconference layups they have challenging opponents throughout the regular season.
This might not be the same Eagles squad that has made national title runs in recent years, but the essence of the team is the same under coach Acaica WalkerWeinstein, just with new faces.
We’ll see if the fourth time is the charm.
Boston University
An early exit from the first round of the Patriot League playoffs was a disappointment for a Terriers team that ended the season on a bad note with losses to Navy and Army. That came after four wins in a row and it looked like BU was poised for a deep run.
That wasn’t to be, but the potential is still there with Kailey Conry, who tallied 80 points as a junior, and Emily Vervlied, who notched 30 goals as a sophomore.
With Loyola and Navy at the top of the Patriot League, it’s tough to find an opening, but the Terriers aren’t losing too much and are infused with young talent.
Holy Cross
A 4-12 record in a tough Patriot League doesn’t necessarily mean the team is bad. With elite teams like Loyola and Navy in the conference, it’s tough to crack the top of the league.
The Crusaders lost their last five games in 2019, though, so they’ll look to open the season by getting that bad taste out of their mouths.
Jolie Creo led the Crusaders in scoring with 61 points a season ago and is expected to take a leap as a sophomore. Bryn Carroll is also expected to take on a bigger role as a senior with secondleading scorer Keely Connors graduated.
University of Massachusetts
The Minutewomen’s objective is clear: win the Atlantic-10. It’s something they’ve been great at for a while, winning nine in a row until 2017.
They’ll be seeking their 11th overall this season and the schedule won’t make things easy with a slate that includes Boston College, Ohio State, George Washington and Dartmouth.
Senior Kaitlyn Cerasi is back after leading the team with 86 points last season, as is third-leading scorer Haley Connaughton while they try to replace production from Kiley Anderson.
UMass-Lowell
Despite just five wins all season, the River Hawks finished 2019 on a good note with two wins in their last three games, including a 1918 shootout with Vermont.
The next step is to harness that and take a leap forward as a program.
Behind vets Hana Caster and Cameron McKelvin leading the offense, the potential is there to do just that. Caster also has been dominant forcing turnovers and getting the offense going, while McKelvin tallied 29 goals last season.
They start the season with a slate of winnable out-ofconference games before getting into their America East schedule.
Harvard
At 6-9 a season ago, the Crimson can strive for much better. They dropped their final three games last season, including a one-goal heartbreaker to Brown.
The Crimson never won two games in a row and that’s as inconsistent as it gets.
Merrimack
The Warriors will compete at the Division I level for the first time this season, but that doesn’t mean they lack experience. Head coach Jillian Duffy has been at the helm for the past three seasons and brings back 61point-getter Haley Bartlett as a junior to lead the offense, while Courtney Capobianco leads the defensive side.