BC’s women’s lacrosse team makes its first visit to the Final Four of the NCAA tournament next weekend at Gillette Stadium, Foxborough. The #14 Eagles (16-6) punched their ticket to the national semifinals with a 20-14 win today over #7 Southern California (18-4).

Eagles storm the field to join teammates in celebration.

USC entered the game with the nation’s 2nd-best defense, allowing an average of only 7.5 goals per game. The Eagles’s offense was in high gear early and often, starting out with a 3-0 lead at the Newton Campus Fields. The first half ended with BC up 10-5. USC twice cut the Eagles’ lead to 3 (10-7 and 15-12), but BC outscored the Trojans 5-2 over the last 14:10 of the game to reach the final tally.

Kenzie Kent

This was BC’s 3rd consecutive 20-goal game in this year’s NCAA tournament and the Eagles scored more goals than the Trojans had ever allowed. The Eagles outshot USC 38-25. Junior Kenzie Kent led BC with 6 goals (2 assists). Seniors Kate Weeks and Kayla O’Connor and junior Kaileen Hart added  3 goals each, with Weeks assisting on 6 goals, O’Connor 1, and Hart 4. BC’s top scorer this season, sophomore Sam Apuzzo, had 2 goals, bringing her BC single season record to 109, and 2 assists.

Senior goalie Zoe Ochoa had 2 saves in the opening half and sophomore Lauren Daly had 6 in the second half.

The Eagles meet unranked Navy Friday at Gillette. The Midshipmen defeated #3 North Carolina Saturday.

With a 21-10 win Sunday over #9 Syracuse, the #14 BC Eagles advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. BC will host #7 Southern California Saturday.

BC had finished its regular season with an 11-5 record, 3-4 in the ACC. Beating Notre Dame 17-14 in the opening round of the conference tournament, the Eagles lost by the same score, 17-14, to North Carolina.

BC traveled to Syracuse this past weekend for the opening rounds of the NCAA tournament. After beating Canisius 21-9 in Friday, they met the Orange. Down 3-2 after the first 10 minutes, BC went on a 9-2 run and finished the first half leading, 12-7.

The Eagles opened the second half with 3 straight goals to lead 15-7. With the score 15-9, BC held Syracuse scoreless for 13 minutes while scoring 5 goals to take the lead up to 20-9. The teams traded single goals in the last 5 minutes for the 20-10 final score.

The BC win was only its 3rd ever over Syracuse and its first in the postseason.

Sam Apuzzo

Sophomore Sam Apuzzo had 5 goals, 2 assists, while senior Kate Weeks added 4 goals, 3 assists. Senior Kayla O’Connor and junior Kenzie Kent added 3 goals each.

Apuzzo brought her BC record season scoring total to 107 points. Her 72 goals are also a season record for the Eagles. She is the first BC player to score 100 points or more in a season.

Four Eagles named to US national team
Two current members of the BC women’s hockey team — juniors Megan Keller and Kali Flanagan, both defensemen — joined two alumnae — Alex Carpenter ’16 and Emily Pfalzer ’15 on the US national women’s hockey team. Team members were announced May 5.

National team members will live and train together in the Tampa, Fla., area beginning in September, prepping for the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. Keller and Flanagan will take a leave of absence for the 2017-18 collegiate season.