Fitzpatrick sparks BC lacrosse

Lauren Fitzpatrick is making her goals count for the Boston College women's lacrosse program.

For the first time in program history, the Eagles have won two games against Atlantic Coast Conference foes, and they can thank Fitzpatrick, their junior midfielder from Westwood.

Fitzpatrick scored 48 seconds into double overtime last weekend to lift BC to a 5-4 win over seventh-ranked North Carolina in Waltham. It was the Eagles' first win over the Tar Heels and their first over a Top 10 program.

The team needed the win, Boston College coach Bowen Holden said after her squad improved to 3-6 on the season. "They are a talented group that works extremely hard, but they certainly needed the confidence, and it wasn't going to come until we started winning."

Three seasons ago, in its inaugural run through the ACC, BC faced a number of teams that were nationally ranked and highly respected. The Eagles were successful in nonconference play, but managed just one win against a conference foe, Virginia Tech.

Fitzpatrick, attack Maura Mahoney of Westwood, and defender Margot Spatola of Hingham were members of that freshman class that was thrown into the mix right away.

"It was a challenge I think we all wanted. It was a matter of patience and all of the hard work for us to finally win that second game," said Holden, who is in her third season at BC. "The junior class has been an important piece of that success because they have been playing since freshman year, and virtually all of them had that experience under pressure and it was something they have been able to learn from."

Holden said Fitzpatrick has improved with each season, maturing this season into a consistently productive midfielder. She scored in each of the first nine games, tallying 19 goals and one assist. Her 20 points are right behind Mahoney's 22 (11 goals, 11 assists) for the team lead.

Fitzpatrick has six multiple-point games this season, including a season-high four points in the season-opener against Maryland. She also had the game-winner in a 10-9 win over Virginia Tech last month.

Defensively, she also has been stellar, forcing 14 turnovers, second on the team.

"She has a natural athletic instinct that really carries her to success," Holden said. "She has a lot of things going for her that are not coachable in the sense that she has natural ability on the field. She's combined that with the things we've asked of her, and that's continued to make her better and more potent on the offensive end, and she's extremely valuable on defense as well."

Two former Duxbury High hockey players made steady contributions to their college hockey teams this past season.

Bill Carroll, a member of the 2005 Division 1 championship team, chipped in eight points for the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. The Corsairs went on to capture the ECAC Division 3 Northeast Tournament Championship for the third year in a row.

At Babson College, Terry Woods, a 2006 Duxbury graduate, had 10 points as Babson earned a 17-6-3 record.

Two Mansfield graduates recently captured individual titles for the University of Massachusetts at Lowell at the Trinity College Bantam Invitational.

Senior Terry Young won the long jump with a leap of 21 feet, 3 1/4 inches, and freshman Kate Johnston won the discuss with a heave of 100 feet, 10 inches.

The March 29 meet was the second of the outdoor season for the River Hawks.

Monique Walker can be reached at mwalker@globe.com.