Wantagh's Madison Taylor paces Northwestern with 4 goals
Northwestern junior attacker Madison Taylor runs by Boston College freshman midfielder Julia Hodell during the NCAA Division I women’s lacrosse semifinals at Gillette stadium on Friday. Credit: Jon Ratner
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — As the Northwestern women’s lacrosse team came to the sideline after the third quarter of Friday night’s Division I semifinal against Boston College having just allowed four straight goals and trailing by five, Madison Taylor had a message.
“We talked about it all week, loving the hard fight,” the junior attacker from Wantagh said. “We knew this wasn’t going to be an easy game. When we were down by a lot going into the fourth we said ‘This is right where we want to be.’”
And now the Wildcats will be where they want to be on Sunday, too. A furious, ferocious comeback for a 12-11 victory in which they outscored Boston College 6-0 in that fourth quarter put Northwestern (19-2) in the championship game against top-seeded North Carolina. It will be the first championship game played without defending champion Boston College in it since 2016.
Taylor, the NCAA’s single-season goal-scoring queen, had four to lead Northwestern in this game. Two of them came on free position plays in that fourth quarter and she now has 109 goals this season … and counting with one game remaining.
But on what turned out to be the game-winning goal with 5:26 remaining, it was Taylor who dished the assist, finding Sam Smith.
“We knew they were going to double Maddie because she is an unstoppable force,” Smith said. “Someone slid off the top and I kind of cut behind that and was open.”
The Northwestern run came while BC starting defender Kaitlyn Cole (Sacred Heart Academy, Garden City) was sidelined with a knee injury.
Northwestern’s defense, meanwhile, was able to contain Rachel Clark, who came into the game second in the nation — and second all-time — behind Taylor with 103 goals on the season. She scored three in the first quarter but none after that for Boston College. Emma LoPinto (Manhasset) had two goals and three assists for BC (19-3).
The game ended in a flurry of activity over the final two minutes. Taylor threw away a pass with 1:50 remaining to give the ball to Boston College, but the Eagles couldn’t get a shot and Northwestern recovered it with 1:22 remaining. The Eagles got the ball back with 45 seconds left but the stick slipped out of the rain-soaked hands of Molly Driscoll for a turnover.
With 15 seconds left, Northwestern was unable to clear and Boston College had the ball with a chance to tie. Mia Mascone dodged to the cage at nearly point-blank range but Northwestern goalie Delaney Sweitzer stuffed it for her eighth and most important save of the game as time expired.
Northwestern coach Kelly Amonte Hiller called the win “a spectacle of belief and heart.”
Most of that stems from Taylor, who spoke about “loving the battle.”
“It’s not going to be easy and knowing that going into it and loving every second of it is the best feeling ever,” she said.
Northwestern is in for another challenge against North Carolina, which beat them, 15-12, on March 27. The only other team to beat the Wildcats this year was Boston College, 13-9 on Feb. 15.
As for the scoring record, which is now hers with Clark’s season officially over, Taylor said she never thought she would be in the position she now finds herself and credited her teammates for her individual successes.
“I’m just grateful for an extra two days with this team, honestly,” she said.
Right where she wants to be.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
