During a bright, warm afternoon match at Ridley Athletic Complex, No. 15 Loyola women’s lacrosse fell short to No. 12 Boston College by a score of 11-8 on Saturday, Apr. 4. This loss, their first since Mar. 14, ends a dominant five-game win streak, which featured wins against Towson and four Patriot League opponents, including an upset against No. 4 ranked Navy.
The women’s lacrosse season so far is defined by a few volatile outcomes. On one side, they lost a Patriot League game for the first time since entering the conference in 2013, but on the other side, they garnered four wins this season against ranked opponents, multiple of which were against higher-ranked teams, of which include the Navy game and a win against a No. 9 ranked Princeton team in February. This past lacrosse game featured another higher-ranked opponent, Boston College, entering Baltimore to face off against Loyola.
The Greyhounds opened the game strong with three goals before their opponent struck back in the final minute of the first quarter. The opposing Eagles in the second quarter carried out a powerful response, though, taking over the game with a 6-1 scoring run during the entirety of the quarter, making the score 7-4 going into halftime. The scoring evened out after the half, with both teams notching two goals in each of the last two quarters. However, Loyola was unable to capitalize on the remaining half to overcome the three-goal difference established in the second quarter. The four goals scored by each team in the second half gave a final score of 11-8.
Despite the loss, Greyhounds goalkeeper Kennedy Buntrock ‘27 recorded a career high nine saves in the game, managing to out-save Boston’s 2025 Tewaarton Finalist Shea Dolce. With five of her saves occurring in the second half, Buntrock credited her team’s encouragement for helping her stay present in the game after the Eagles’ second-quarter surge.
“I think it goes for everyone on the field: if you focus on a mistake, it is not going to help you in the next play. So, you just have to put all your energy into the people in front of you and keep going,” Buntrock said.
The game featured six different goal scorers for Loyola, with midfielder Mim Suarez-Jury ‘28 leading the pack as the only Loyola player to score multiple goals. Suarez-Jury finished the game with a hat trick after scoring Loyola’s last two goals in the fourth quarter. Each goal briefly cut the Loyola deficit to two when each was scored at the 12:11 and 7:27 marks, respectively. She praised her team’s offensive effort in the final quarter for awarding her these scoring opportunities.
“I just saw an opening and I took it. All the girls were moving so well offensively at that time, and I was lucky enough to put the ball away,” Suarez-Jury said.
Both Suarez-Jury ‘28 and Buntrock ‘27 offered kudos to Dolce for her performance, noting her skill as one of the greatest obstacles for the Greyhounds.
“BC has such strong defenders in one-on-one defense, and Shea Dolce is unreal in the cage, so it was tough for all of us to get the ball in the back of the net,” Suarez-Jury said.
Notably, according to the Loyola Athletics website, this game was only the second time this season that the Greyhounds did not have an advantage over their opponent in draw controls, the first coming in a loss to Army West Point in March, which was their first Patriot League loss in program history. Head Coach Jen Adams noted that her team will use the experience to learn how to improve their draw control and better combat difficulties in this aspect of the game.
“I’m hoping, ultimately, being in the trenches there with the draw, down the road, in Patriot League and postseason play, that we’ve given ourselves kind of an eye opener as to what it can look like if we’re not winning the draw and how we need to take care of what we’re doing,” Adams said.
Coach Adams added that while the team may have some regrets, they do not see this loss as a setback and will be reflecting on this game to discover how they can improve before they return to the field on Apr. 11, when they are set to face Colgate University at home for Senior Day.
The Colgate game, slotted for 12 p.m. on Saturday, will also welcome fans’ pets, as attendees are encouraged to bring their dogs to the stands for the ‘Ruff at Ridley’ event.