2023-24 BC Interruption Awards: Play of the Year – Shea Dolce’s Natty Kick Save

Our BCI awards season is marching on, and now it’s time to honor what could be remembered as one of the biggest plays in recent Boston College sports history. I am of course talking about the kick save that BC women’s lacrosse goaltender Shea Dolce made in the final minute of the 2024 national championship game. The save that allowed the Eagles to hold on and take home the NCAA title for the second time in four years.

First of all, this would be an incredible play regardless of context. Dolce is facing a skilled shot-maker head on that creates an impressive fake to slip by the initial blockers. Dylan Amonte has Dolce and the BC defense beat, but remarkably her shot doesn’t go in. Dolce uses her incredibly fast twitch to react at the last second to Amonte’s would-be heroic goal and barely manages to kick the ball out of the way. It was an incredible display of goaltending that very few could pull off.

But it was the stakes that made it truly other-worldly. BC had rallied from a 6-0 deficit to take a lead in the 2024 national championship game. Against the same team that had blown them out in the 2023 title game. And with just seconds left, Northwestern was putting together a rally of their own to try to send the game in OT. But Dolce came up huge multiple times in the dying minutes of the game and season, making multiple important stops and capped it off with this incredible kick save that essentially sealed the victory. No player can single-handedly win their team a championship, but that’s about as close as you’re going to get.

Also nominated for this award were two goals from the Boston College men’s hockey team, who had their own incredible season that unfortunately fell short in their national title game. One was a regular season goal by Ryan Leonard, the first score in one of the most hyped games of the year:

And the other of course was the Jack Malone OT finisher that sent Boston College to the Frozen Four: