265 days after their clash in the national championship game, Boston College once again dealt Northwestern a defeat.
In a clash of championship-caliber contingents, 2024’s national title team staked its claim as the nation’s best in 2025.
No. 1 Boston College (3-0, 0-0 ACC) handed No. 2 Northwestern (2-1, 0-0 B1G) its first home loss since March 9 of 2020, snapping a 47-game home winning streak for the Wildcats. The Eagles scored the first six goals of the game, and a stifling defense proved enough to hold on. Northwestern scored six of the final nine goals of the game, but Boston College had just enough gas in the tank to survive the late charge.
For the Eagles, Molly Driscoll led the way with three goals on five shots. Kylee Colbert had a hat trick of her own, and Rachel Clark added a pair of goals along with an assist. Goalkeeper Shea Dolce was brilliant all afternoon, tallying six saves and four ground balls. Boston College won the ground ball battle 14-10 and the turnover battle 12-16.
As for the Wildcats, Madison Taylor led the way with three goals and three draw controls. Emerson Bohlig also had a hat trick of her own. In her first start in purple and white, Delaney Sweitzer made five saves but also gave up 13 goals. Defensively, Jane Hansen tallied two ground balls and two caused turnovers. Northwestern dominated the draw circle to the tune of a 15-10 advantage but was outshot 34-22.
With a sold-out Ryan Fieldhouse packed to the rafters, the national championship rematch promised sensational individual play and high-flying offense. However, it was the Eagles’ defense that struck early, forcing the Wildcats into a shot clock violation on their first possession. After a BC turnover, Taylor ran over an Eagles’ defender, and the officials called a charge.
But Northwestern’s defense had claws of its own. Boston College’s sensational scorer Rachel Clark earned a free position, but the shot caromed off the post to keep the game deadlocked in a scoreless tie. The Eagles kept their foot to the pedal, and nearly halfway through the first frame, sophomore Molly Driscoll broke the tie with a beautiful looping run through the fan.
Boston College tried to expand the lead with a pair of free position opportunities, but physical defense from the Wildcats stymied them twice, leading to a shot clock violation. Northwestern earned a free position of its own, but Shea Dolce denied Sam Smith at the net. The Eagles took advantage immediately, as Kylee Colbert bounced a shot home to double the lead with 4:28 to play in the opening frame.
Boston College continued to attack the Wildcats’ defense with aplomb, and Colbert earned her second goal of the game after slicing through the fan untouched. Northwestern was clearly flustered, and the offense committed unforced turnovers on consecutive possessions. When the dust from the first quarter finally settled, the Eagles held a 3-0 lead and firm control of the momentum.
Their grip only strengthened on the first possession of the second quarter. Rachel Clark sliced right through the defense and got her first goal of the game (and thirteenth of the season) just 26 seconds into the frame. Niki Miles’ third shot of the game clanged harmlessly off the post, continuing Northwestern’s poor offensive showing. Boston College’s offensive showing, on the other hand, was right where it needed to be. Emma LoPinto fired home a free position shot to push the Eagles’ lead to five.
The Wildcats’ defense continued to take blow after blow. Driscoll snaked right past Madison Smith to push the lead to 6-0 with 11:42 to go in the first half. Through 18 minutes, Boston College had more goals than Northwestern had shots. Kelly Amonte Hiller took a timeout, with her team trailing by the same margin they had given away in the national championship game the previous May.
Taylor finally made an impact on the game with an unassisted goal out of the stoppage, but the Wildcats were still in a deep hole. Riley Campbell got them closer to the surface with a beautiful bouncing score on a free position, which marked Northwestern’s second goal in under a minute. But Driscoll was simply unstoppable. Once again, a looping run earned her an easy look, and she converted for her third goal of the afternoon. Of the eight shots on goal Sweitzer faced through 22 minutes, seven had found the net.
Northwestern’s shots were starting to find the net too. Another unassisted thrust from Taylor trimmed the lead back to 7-3, with under six minutes to play in the opening half. But for every Wildcat punch, the Eagles had a counterpunch. McKenna Davis got on the board with under two minutes to play in the opening half, pushing the lead back to five goals. Northwestern was able to respond almost immediately, with Abby LoCascio getting a great feed from Taylor to continue the hot offensive sequence.
The Wildcats walked into the locker room trailing 8-4, the first time Kelly Amonte Hiller’s squad had trailed at halftime since April 21, 2024 against Michigan. Northwestern committed 10 turnovers in the first half of action but just two of them were forced. Despite winning the draw control battle 9-5, the Wildcats were being outshot 19-11.
Both teams were slow to start in the second half, and it was BC’s Mia Mascone who finally broke the ice with a sidearm sling four minutes in. Clark then earned her second goal of the game on an unassisted attack that pushed the lead to 10-4, tying the largest margin of the day. Bohlig quickly struck back with a fierce charge of her own, snapping a scoring drought of over six minutes. The goal was confirmed after a review, keeping Northwestern in striking distance.
The Wildcats continued their efforts to close the gap, led by Taylor. The superstar junior was denied on a free position by Dolce, but after Northwestern took possession back, Taylor got her hat trick with a ferocious overhand attack. Dolce, though, would not let the Wildcats any closer. She stymied Riley Campbell on consecutive possessions, but the Eagles’ offense repaid their goalie’s efforts with its fourth turnover of the third quarter. The sloppiness was contagious, as Boston College’s giveaway started a string of four consecutive possessions ending in a turnover. Northwestern finally took advantage when Bohlig ripped a rocket into the back of the net. Bohlig’s second goal trimmed the deficit to 10-7 with six seconds to play in the third frame.
With the Eagles mired in the depths of a scoring drought that spanned over 10 minutes, Dolce and the defense were under heavy pressure. That pressure got even tougher to bear after the offense failed to score on consecutive free-position attempts. After Bohlig sliced right down the middle of the fan and scored her third goal of the game, the pressure reached a boil. Boston College’s six-goal advantage had been sliced to just two, and there was still 11:20 on the game clock.
But both teams’ offenses got stuck in mud after Bohlig’s score. Turnovers, free position failures and hard fouls turned a great game into a chippy slugfest. With 10 minutes elapsed in the fourth frame, both teams had tallied just one shot on frame. As time slowly ticked away, it became clear that the Eagles’ next goal would likely ice things. That next goal came when Devon Russell whipped around the goal, got a great feed from Mascone and found the back of the net to push the lead back to three. Russell’s goal, at the 4:05 mark of the fourth quarter, was the first for her squad since the 10:20 mark of the third quarter.
To their credit, the ‘Cats responded quickly. Taylor Lapointe got on the board less than 40 seconds after Russell’s score, cutting the lead back to two with 3:29 to play. But after Boston College won the draw control, time became Northwestern’s biggest enemy. Another goal from Colbert sealed the game for the Eagles, and then Shea Baker added a goal to truly twist the knife with only 24 seconds on the clock — one final blow to Northwestern’s defense. It’s a major win for the top-ranked Eagles, who handed the Wildcats their first home loss since March 9 of 2020. The game also ties up the all-time series between the two schools, which now both have four wins apiece.
Northwestern will be back in action next Tuesday, February 18, when the Wildcats take on Niagara at home at 1 p.m. central time.