Monthly Archives: May 2024

Lax are National Champions!

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The Boston College women’s lacrosse team defeated (previously) #1 Northwestern today, 14-13 to win the NCAA championship. It is the Eagles’ second national title (the earlier was in 2021). They won it in their seventh consecutive national championship game.

BC fell into a 6-0 hole in the first quarter against a team that had beaten them solidly, 18-6, in last year’s title game and had won 14-11 at BC on February 29. They closed it to being down by two, 8-6, at the half, but Northwestern (18-2) used the third period to expand the lead to 10-7.

The Eagles didn’t tie the game until a Rachel Clark goal made it 11-11 with 11:05 remaining in the game. Andrea Reynolds’ goal with 9:39 left put BC ahead 12-11 for the first time and for good. BC’s Kayla Martello put the Eagles up by two, 13-11, at 5:55, but the Wildcats countered at 4:56 to make it 13-12. Mckenna Davis pushed it up to 14-12 with 4:02 left and, despite a NU goal with 59 seconds left, BC held on for the win.

Martello scored five goals and sophomore goalie Shea Dolce made nine saves, including a couple of spectacular ones late in the game. Reynolds, Davis, Clark, and Emma LoPinto each added two goals, and Ryan Smith added one.

The Eagles finished the season 20-3, with no win obviously bigger then today’s.

Giddy up @ REINS

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L-R (adults): Walid Soussou ’95, Brian Tsu ’00, Lissa Tsu ’00, Lori Mahler P’11, Joe Mahler ’74 P’11, and Bill McDonald ’68. (I sprained my back a little that morning, accounting for my list to starboard.) Walid’s son is left of him and my granddaughter is blocking the W in the sign. Wonder why both kids have their hands on their hips.

Several San Diego Eagles spent Saturday morning weeding, mulching, and otherwise beautifying the entrance to REINS, a therapeutic horse-riding program in Fallbrook. (REINS is the acronym for Riding Emphasizing Individual Needs and Strengths. They deal with students ranging in age from 2 to 85, providing equine-assisted therapy. They also provide such therapy to active duty and veteran military, as well as first responders.)

I’m a volunteer at REINS, one morning a week. When I learned they sponsored group functions, I realized this could be a service activity for the chapter and others agreed.

Clip-Clop Lane, according to REINS, “is the heart of our property. Named after the sound our horse’s hooves make ambling down it, it is the way folks enter our property for the first time. The long paved pathway leads you right to our welcome sign. Our students look forward to taking their horses down Clip-Clop lane every lesson.”

You can get a sense of that sound with this video (9 seconds) I took while assisting on a lesson.

That’s where we spent most of the morning. When we wrapped up weeding and mulching, Allison Solander, volunteer coordinator at REINS, gave us a tour of the facility, including the tack room, where bridles, saddles, stirrups, etc., for each of the 23 horses at REINS are stored. And then we visited several of the horses, some in stalls and most in paddocks, on their “lunch break.” Saturday is a regular class day, so four times during the morning, four students on horses, accompanied by a therapist, horse leader, and often a side walker (to assist in physical safety) walked and sometimes trotted in 30-minute sessions. We were told there was a two-year wait list for Saturday sessions.

Here’s a gallery of some scenes of our activity on Clip-Clop.

Westend
Lookingeast
Lissa
Northedge
Weed

Most of us interacted with horses during our work. Some horses were curious and came up to the fences near us. My granddaughter had an individual moment with Bam-Bam.

Most of us, post-activity, went to nearby Casa Estrella Cocina de Mexico for lunch. Muy bueno.

We’ll be looking to do another event at REINS.

Lax advances in NCAA tournament

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BC women’s lacrosse, #2 seed in the NCAA championship tournament, advanced to the quarterfinals with a 21-16 win over Princeton today. They are to play Michigan Thursday, May 16, on the Newton Campus. If they defeat the Wolverines, BC would advance to their seventh straight Final Four.

The offense today was distributed, as six players scored a hat trick or more. Senior Belle Smith scored five goals, a season-high. Junior McKenna Davis led the team with a total of seven points, adding four assist to her three goals.

The teams were tied 7-7 in the middle of the second period when BC began a 7-0 scoring run that went into the third period. During that span, the Eagles scored three goals in 30 seconds to go into halftime with a 13-9 lead.

The lead expanded to 16-9 in the third period, but the Tigers scored the next four goals to get within three entering the final period. BC scored the next four goals, Princeton the next three, and BC had the final tally with 2:15 left.

Junior Rachel Clark, junior Emma LoPinto, and senior Andrea Reynolds each had three goals and one assist. Grad student Cassidy Weeks added three goals.

Sophomore goalie Shea Dolce had 10 saves, eight in the second half.

The Eagles move to 17-3 for the season.