On the day Charlotte North broke the single-season scoring record for NCAA women’s lacrosse, she only wanted to talk about her team.
That says plenty about how the Boston College Eagles finally managed to break through with the program’s first championship after losing in the final round the previous three times the event was contested.
North, the senior wunderkind who transferred after two seasons at Duke, poured in six goals on Sunday as the fourth-seeded Eagles (18-3) pulled away from No. 2 Syracuse for the 16-10 win at Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson, Md.
It was only fitting that Orange coach Gary Gait was watching from the other sideline. The famed author of “Air Gait” set the men’s college lacrosse scoring record at 70 three decades ago and saw the record stand until 2008.
It was North who got things started just 2 ½ minutes in and North again who put BC ahead to stay with the goal that broke a 7-7 tie late in the first half.
She notched the record-breaker midway through the second half and added the capper in the final minutes to finish with 102 on the year. That was two goals clear of Courtney Murphy’s 5-year-old mark set at Stony Brook.
North, who averaged 4.86 goals per game, had a season high of 10 goals against Virginia Tech back in April and scored eight in a game two other times. She has every move, every dodge, every feint in the book and has even added a few signature shots of her own.
Her best might be a hypnotically circular motion on the set piece from 8 meters out. That shot, fired with the sort of velocity and accuracy rarely seen in the women’s game, leaves even the finest goaltenders mesmerized.
North also has all manner of behind-the-back passes and shots, which she is forever working on with BC assistant Kayla Treanor. But it was a seemingly impossible shot fake, back-to-the-cage, between-the-legs doozy that went viral on Twitter back in January.
“She has the potential to be the most exciting player in the game,” Eagles coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein said before the season. “We told her we believe in her and want her to take her game and women’s lacrosse to the next level. I hope that she does it. I know she will.”
Four months later, the coach’s words proved prophetic.
North’s final college game saw her get the best of her longtime rival and fellow Dallas-area product, Megan Carney of Syracuse. The two remain good friends, and the hope is their success will open the door for more young female lacrosse players from the football-mad state.
“There are a lot more people that are playing college lacrosse from Texas, which is awesome,” North said during an interview on the ACC Network in April. “It’s a testament to the talent down there and the coaches that are growing the sport down there. It’s definitely fun when we get to play (against) each other. It reminds us of where we’re from and how special that is.”
Maggie Koch, who coached North at The Episcopal School of Dallas, made the trip to Towson, Md., to support her former player in her quest.
“It comes full circle because I wouldn’t be here without her,” North said. “Now that we go back home, we see the talent is growing by the second. There are incredible coaches down there. From high school on, they got us to believe that we could play at the Division I level.”