FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Northwestern pulled off a comeback for the ages Friday, scoring six unanswered goals in the fourth quarter to stun Boston College 12-11 for a spot in the women’s lacrosse national championship game for the third straight year and 11th time in program history.
Sam Smith scored the tiebreaker with 5 minutes, 26 seconds left to cap the comeback, and goalie Delaney Sweitzer’s save with four seconds remaining sealed the win at Gillette Stadium.
The third-seeded Wildcats (19-2) will play for their ninth national championship against No. 1 North Carolina (21-0) on Sunday (11 a.m., ESPN). Trailing 4-2 after one quarter in the first semifinal, the Tar Heels scored 18 unanswered goals in a 20-4 rout of fourth-seeded Florida.
Playing in its sixth consecutive Final Four and 16th in the last 21 years under coach Kelly Amonte Hiller, Northwestern trailed 11-6 after Boston College (19-3) extended a one-goal halftime lead with four straight in the third quarter.
But Lucy Munro’s goal just 15 seconds into the fourth sparked the rally. Subsequent goals from Madison Taylor, Aditi Foster and Taylor again pulled Northwestern within 11-10 with 7:59 remaining, and Riley Campbell tied the game 39 seconds later, setting up Smith’s heroics.
Taylor scored four goals to give her 109 for the season, extending the NCAA Division I, Big Ten and Northwestern records. She also had four assists, including on Smith’s game-winner.
Niki Miles scored two first-quarter goals and added an assist, and Campbell finished with two goals for the Wildcats.
“It feels unbelievable to have a long weekend at Gillette Stadium,” said Amonte Hiller, a Boston-area native. “Really grateful for the people that are hosting, Harvard University, and all the people from the NCAA making it special. It’s a really unbelievable thing for the men and the women to be together in a stadium like this. I think it brings a lot of attention to our sport at a critical time for college athletics. It’s fun to be a part of it in your hometown.”
A win Sunday would give Northwestern its 13th national team championship in school history — and second in less than a week. The women’s golf team won its first title Wednesday.
McKenna Davis (three goals, two assists), Rachel Clark (three goals) and Emma LoPinto (two goals, three assists) led the Eagles, who fell one win short of making their eight consecutive appearance in the championship game. The Wildcats beat BC 18-6 in the 2023 final, and the Eagles won 14-13 in the 2024 title game.
“I know you can’t really see it from the outside, but this team came a really long way,” Boston College coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein said. “I’m proud of the standard that they held, the leaders that they became, and they’re leaving BC lacrosse in a great place, and a place it can be proud of. Not the ending that we wanted, but I’m still very proud of our team.”