Bob Donnan-US PRESSWIRE

The 101 days of Boston College football begin with the players, going up numerically (while taking a few pit stops along the way) before transitioning to other football-related matters. Day 1 should clearly then start with #1, senior wide receiver Colin Larmond, Jr.

Anybody who watched Eagles football in 2011 knows that the offense was virtually non-existent. This also extends to the passing game, where Boston College had 173 completed passes in total (as compared to 265 for opponents). As a result, you’ll get a lot of receivers with relatively unimpressive stat lines. Larmond was amongst the lucky ones, catching the second-most passes on the team last year with 34 and leading the team in receiving yards with 528. Not surprisingly, he also tied for the team lead with three touchdowns (which is sad when you consider that those mere three accounted for 25% of BC’s passing touchdowns last year).

Larmond lost his 2010 season due to a medical redshirt, injuring his knee shortly before the year began. 2011 was his comeback season and he acquitted himself fairly well all things considered, though he was perhaps a bigger threat prior to his injury. After Ifeanyi Momah’s BC-career-ending injury, he became an even more integral part of the plan. In the previous offensive coordinator regime(s) last season, Larmond was a frequent target and is likely to be again in 2012. Yes, we all know that the tight ends also need to become involved in the passing game, but Larmond has established himself as a reliable receiver for Chase Rettig who was usually open. With that said, he only caught an average of about 3 passes per game, which is indicative that something wasn’t quite right.

The biggest passing play of the year, 57 yards, belongs to Larmond, and he’s still been the foremost option for going down the field. Of course, stretching the field was (and perhaps still is; we’ll find out in September) not something we saw very much. Obviously the wideouts are not fully culpable, as they were just one of several parts of the passing game. Regardless, heading into his senior season, the unmistakable truth is that Larmond is one of the best wide receivers we have on the team.

For Larmond and BC to have an even better season, for one thing, Rettig has to be able to get the ball to him. As much as we like Rettig, the completion percentage was not very good (and even he’s not entirely to blame for that; for example, he didn’t always have adequate time). Additionally, Doug Martin has to keep him involved and occasionally send that deep ball Larmond’s way. If anyone on this team can come close to being a deep threat, it’s probably Larmond.

Time will tell how he is used under Martin, but one would expect Larmond to remain a key player in the passing game.

101 Days of BC Football: Colin Larmond, Jr., #1 - Soaring to Glory - Soaring to Glory - A Boston College Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and more.

I said it would be the biggest preview ever on this site; I wasn’t kidding.

From now until the first Miami at Boston College preview article in late August, Soaring to Glory will feature a new football article every day (aside from Memorial Day and July 4th) to get you ready for the 2012 season. Every player, every coach, every game, and every position.

2012 is likely to be a crucial time for this program. With Frank Spaziani on the hot seat, returns diminishing every year, and fan frustration growing, what happens in this upcoming season will likely tell us a lot about its near future. A better season could signify a turnaround in our fortunes or merely keep power where it currently lies, while another bad one like 2011 might cause heads to roll and affect a rebuilding of Boston College football that could take several years. It’s important for sure, and we’ll have you covered throughout the summer.

As the season gets closer, STG will have some “two-a-days,” which means just what it says: two BC football articles, guaranteed.

Of course, if Boston College or major ACC sports news arises over the summer, we’ll cover that, too.

Day 1 is tomorrow.

Introducing the 101 Days of Boston College Football - Soaring to Glory - Soaring to Glory - A Boston College Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and more.

It’s the women’s and coed sports that get their due today; at the end, a few final words on the sum total of the 2011-12 Eagles athletics season.

Much like the men, there were a number of women’s teams that left something to be desired. All of our student athletes give their best, in that I’m confident, but sometimes the standings leave you scratching your head. That certainly didn’t apply to all sports, however, and the news is perhaps a little better today than it was in Part IV.

Teams are listed alphabetically.

Women’s basketball

The ladies had a bad season, going 7-23 (2-14) and washing out in the first round of the ACC Tournament with a 72-41 loss to Virginia. At one point, Boston College had lost 11 games in a row, all in ACC play. Shortly after the season ended, Head Coach Sylvia Crawley resigned “due to health reasons” and was replaced by Denver coach Erik Johnson. Johnson was an assistant coach under Cathy Inglese at the end of her BC tenure.

It’s hard to believe that with all the problems men’s basketball had, the women were actually worse. The coaching change was probably needed, anyway. Observing from a distance, there was always a bad vibe coming from this team under Crawley, and 2011-12 was a fantastic, unequivocal trainwreck. Her tenure began with mystery — as in, why Inglese left — and continued with failures to make the NCAA Tournament and the very peculiar declining of the WNIT bid a few years ago. Women’s basketball needed a new start and will hopefully get one, but make no mistake: this past season was no good at all.

Women’s cross country

Women’s XC had a pretty good season all things considered. Competing from September to November, they won two invitationals and finished second in three others, including the NCAA Northeast regionals in November. They placed 12th of 31 in the NCAA championship meet, giving the program its best year-end result in about a decade.

Four players — junior Bridget Dahlberg, senior Jillian King, graduate Hope Krause and freshman Liv Westphal — made the All-ACC Academic Team.

Women’s fencing

Like cross country, women’s fencing represented themselves well in 2011-12. They won their fair share of matches throughout the course of the season and managed to take gold at the New England Collegiate Championships in February.

Chelsea Rosenbauer qualified for the NCAA Tournament, winning four bouts in her first appearance.

Field hockey

Field hockey had an average year, going 10-9 overall but finishing just 1-4 in the ACC. They fell out in the first round of the ACC Tournament, losing on a last-minute Wake Forest goal in early November.

Several players from the team were named to the NFHCA and All-ACC academic teams.

Women’s golf

Women’s golf fared about as well as the men did in 2011-12, if not a little better. The ladies won a tournament and tied for the win in another, but otherwise had a few misses.

The ACC Tournament was unkind to this team, coming in last (9th place) with a team score of 82-over-par. The best individual finish was that of freshman Katia Joo, tied for 14th at +13.

Women’s ice hockey

This team continues taking big strides forward. No, they didn’t win the Beanpot or the Hockey East Tournament, but they did find their way back into the Frozen Four for the second-straight year, giving Eagles hockey fans the opportunity to watch both of their hockey squads achieve that same feat in the same season.

Unfortunately, just like in 2010-11, the ladies’ season ended at the hands of Wisconsin, but they’re no doubt proud of their #4 national ranking.

Lacrosse

Women’s lax didn’t make the NCAA Tournament this season, but they did have their third winning campaign in a row. The team went 10-8 (1-4).

As of May 14, BC lacrosse has risen back into the national top 20.

Rowing

Women’s rowing had a couple wins to their credit in 2011-12, and they put forth a respectable 4th-place finish in the ACC championship in April.

There are NCAA championships to take place later in May, so the book may not yet be closed on this team.

Sailing

We have two championship teams here at Boston College: men’s hockey and sailing. One gets a lot more play than the other, but the other certainly deserves its moment in the sun.

The Eagles are currently ranked 5th in the nation and why not, because they’ve gone pretty well just about everywhere they’ve shown up this season.

We definitely have not heard the last from them this year, however, because the national championships are in early June.

Women’s skiing

Seriously, someone tell me what’s going on for these ski teams. About all I can tell you definitively is that many of the headlines talk about the team “making progress,” so that should be enough to formulate an opinion. If any members of the team would like to fill us in on their season, please comment!

Women’s soccer

This is a good program and it had another good season, going 12-6-3 (6-4-0). Women’s soccer ended the regular season ranked but got knocked out early in the ACC Tournament. Something happens when they get to the big dance, however, and once again, the ladies streaked all the way to the sweet 16. Unfortunately, their year ended with a loss to Stanford.

Softball

Softball season just ended for the lady Eagles, and sadly, the results left something to be desired. BC went 23-30 (3-18), which clearly means that they did very well in non-conference play but very poorly inside the ACC.

Their last game of the year was on May 10, a 10-4 ACC Tournament loss to North Carolina.

Women’s swimming

Swimming had its good moments and bad, but the season ended on a down note. In the ACC championships in February, BC came in 11th (out of 11). The overall record for the Eagles was 11-11.

Women’s tennis

The ladies fared a little better than the men in this sport, putting together a 9th-place season with a 10-13 (3-8) record. Their season ended in a narrow first-round defeat at the hands of NC State, the same school that beat the men.

As a result of her fine play, Erina Kikuchi was the first Eagle named to the All-ACC team in four years.

Women’s track & field

Indoor track & field came in 10th place in the 2012 ACC championships, earning 26 points for their efforts.

In the ECAC Championship, Caroline King won the 800-meter race and broke a Boston College program record in so doing.

Volleyball

The volleyball team brought up the rear in the ACC this season, going 7-24 (3-17). There was no ACC Tournament for them, and unfortunately, they ended the season in November on an 11-game losing streak.

A Final Word…

There is a recipe for what ailed Boston College sports in general in 2011-12 (there are other ingredients, but these are a few of the important ones):

• Two tablespoons of intemperate meddling in the foremost revenue sport, accomplished through a breathtakingly incompetent puppet regime
• A tablespoon of attrition, whether through graduation, dismissal, transfer, or professional sports
• Another tablespoon of fan apathy, made easy by a poor, moribund sports atmosphere
• Still another tablespoon of top-to-bottom mismanagement, protected and excused by the local media
• And finally, a soupçon of thinly-veiled malignity directed at your own fanbase

It’s been quite a year, hasn’t it?

Soon we will start anew, and hopefully, rock-bottom is behind us. STG will also start anew, launching the biggest preseason preview series we’ve ever done.

Boston College 2011-12 in Review, Part V: Women’s & Coed Sports - Soaring to Glory - Soaring to Glory - A Boston College Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and more.

Just as we do every year when we’ve wrapped up the three main sports at Boston College, it’s time to turn our attention to all of the other varsity teams in maroon and gold. Sometimes they don’t get enough attention from us, though it is important to keep up with all of the ups and downs in all corners of our athletics program. Today, it’s the mens’ sports aside from football, basketball, and hockey that are assessed.

Unfortunately, after the hockey article, if you were looking for more good news, you probably won’t find it today. Take hockey away (both men’s and women’s) and Boston College athletics is in quite a dire place right now. Some of our other male student-athletes performed well in 2011-12, but overall, the results were disappointing.

Teams are in alphabetical order.

Baseball

This season isn’t quite over yet, but it’s about to be soon. Boston College baseball is at 20-30 (9-18), tied for last place in the ACC Atlantic. There are three conference games to go and they have not yet been mathematically eliminated from ACC Tournament contention, but they will fight an uphill battle to get to Greensboro.

The 2012 campaign began with an early-season tournament victory in South Carolina as BC won the Caravelle Resort Tournament. In fact, the Eagles rocketed out to a 6-2 start, even putting forth a representative effort against the Boston Red Sox before the wheels came off on their year. Since then, to date, BC has gone 14-28, losing precisely two-thirds of their games. Easily their most notable win of the season was a 17-6 victory over #1 Florida State at home on April 15.

Tom Bourdon leads the team with a .323 batting average. Nate Bayuk has the team’s lowest ERA at 3.14.

Cross Country

Men’s XC competed from September to November, with their best finish being 2nd of four teams at the Dartmouth Invitational on September 10. Unfortunately, they came in 11th place in the ACC championship, 14th of 33 in the NCAA regionals, and 13th of 17 in the IC4A championship, which was actually a small improvement from the previous season.

Louis Serafini earned All-East honors, finishing 22nd individually in the IC4As.

Fencing

Men’s fencing had its highs and lows but actually seems to have accomplished some things this academic year. Despite a few overall losses, this team earned its fair share of wins, collected some medals, and ultimately finished in a tie for 19th at the NCAA Tournament. Peter Souders qualified from this team, and he won 10 bouts in the big dance.

Golf

It just wasn’t a good year for the golf team, who for struggled for much of the season and only rarely came close to winning tournaments. Easily, their best performance of the year came in Bethany Beach, Delaware where they earned second place out of 11 teams at the George Washington Invitational.

Unfortunately, that was about as close as they came, capped off with an 11th-place finish at the ACC Tournament. Luke Feehan had the best individual performance in that championship, tied for 21st at +1.

Skiing

As it is every year, clear-cut information on the performance of our skiing team is hard to find. From January to March they competed, and aside from the fact that they did not win a national championship, there is not much other information readily available.

Soccer

Boston College men’s soccer had a middle-of-the-pack sort of season in the ACC, but still put together a 14-6-1 overall record, which was good enough to get them back in the NCAA Tournament in November. Part of their ability to qualify came from streaking all the way to the ACC Championship game before falling to North Carolina.

In that NCAA Tournament game, they lost to Rutgers in the first round on penalty kicks.

Kyle Bekker led the way in 2011 with 8 goals and 7 assists; Charlie Rugg had 8 goals and 5 assists.

Swimming

The men’s swimming team’s season was not an ultimately victorious one, but it was not without many successes. They somehow managed to not compete in a single ACC contest during the regular season, but compiled an overall record of 15-2. When it came down to the ACC Tournament, however, the Eagles finished 10th out of 11.

Tennis

As a team, BC tennis did not have a good year, going 5-15 (1-10), tying with Miami for last place in the ACC and putting together the worst overall record. Competing from September to April, the team had a few successes, including a regular season finale win over Brandeis, but otherwise there was not much to say. BC was knocked out in the first round of the ACC Tournament in April by NC State.

Akash Muppidi once again earned All-ACC honors, this being the third-straight year he’s achieved the feat.

Track & Field

It is not easy figuring out how exactly this team did in all of its meets this year, but what we do know is that there were not many wins and ultimately, the Eagles came in 12th place at the ACC Tournament in February. What probably makes that worse is that the championship meet took place at Boston College.

Tomorrow: women’s and coed sports, and a final word on 2011-12 BC athletics

Boston College 2011-12 in Review, Part IV: Other Men’s Sports - Soaring to Glory - Soaring to Glory - A Boston College Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and more.

Douglas Jones-US PRESSWIRE

Part I: Football
Part II: Men’s basketball

After two days of being depressed by two teams with a combined total of 30 losses from September to March, isn’t it time we lighten the mood? Today, we focus on the national champion Boston College Eagles men’s hockey team, coached by the one and only Jerry York.

The season began with a great deal of promise, as the Eagles were the preseason #5 team in the country and were the favorites to win Hockey East yet again. Indeed, with the announced returns of Chris Kreider and Brian Dumoulin, there was every reason to believe that this Boston College team could be as good as any other in recent memory, if not better. This is in spite of losing key cogs like John Muse, Cam Atkinson, and Jimmy Hayes.

On October 7, 2011, the puck dropped on what would be a very special season for the Eagles. They faced Michigan State and then North Dakota the following day in the Ice Breaker Tournament in Grand Forks, beating both teams and taking their first of many trophies.

It was not until Boston College came home for their opener that they suffered a loss. Denver, a pesky foe but one whom the Eagles swept in the previous season, went to Conte Forum and beat BC, 4-2. A trademark of a Jerry York team is one that is in it for the long haul and doesn’t panic, though. The Eagles came right back from that October 14 defeat and rattled off six wins in a row, capped off by a dominant 5-1 win over Maine on November 4. By then, the 8-1 Eagles were the #1 team in the country.

Entering the middle part of the regular season, the waters got choppy. Beginning with a November 5 loss at UMass, the Eagles had a stretch of games through January where they compiled a record of just 6-9-1, losing their #1 ranking and slipping almost out of the top ten. Included in this period were two losses to Boston University out of three meetings, the first of which was an embarrassing 5-0 loss on home ice, a last-second overtime loss at Notre Dame (followed by a football loss the next day), and a 4-0 shutout loss to UMass on January 13. Rock-bottom, however, was a weekend two-game sweep at the hands of the Maine Black Bears in Orono in which BC gave up 11 goals. The only bright spot was Barry Almeida’s hat trick in the second game, a 7-4 loss.

By then, the Eagles were in flux with their goaltender situation, sitting down Parker Milner earlier in the down period in favor of Brian Billett. Billett had a few good games in a row, but when he could no longer sustain his initial magic, Jerry York mixed senior backup Chris Venti into the lineup.

As the story goes, captain Tommy Cross called the team together after this Maine sweep and essentially told them (not quoted, probably not paraphrased) to pull their heads out of their asses and fight their way back. Their play, as far as they saw it, was unacceptable and their season was slipping away. Little did they or anyone else know that their 7-goal disaster in Maine would be their last loss of the year.

Head coach Jerry York made the call after that defeat to put junior Parker Milner back in net, as he had been at the start of the season. The good mojo for the Eagles began right away, as they capped a late 4-3 comeback win against New Hampshire on January 27 with a Steven Whitney goal with under a minute to go in regulation. The next night, in the second game of a home-and-home, Boston College went to New Hampshire and beat them again, 3-2, marking the first time since early December that they had won consecutive games.

By then, it was Beanpot time, and BC’s roll continued in the TD Garden, slapping around Northeastern in the semifinals for a 7-1 victory to earn a date with BU in the following week’s final. It may seem hard to believe now knowing what we know, but with that win over NU, the Eagles had their first three-game win streak since late October/early November. Following a thorough 6-1 weekend dismissal of Vermont in Burlington, BC came back to the Garden at posted an unforgettable 3-2 overtime win over Boston University to win their third Beanpot in a row and fourth in five years. Bill Arnold was the hero with 6.4 seconds left in the first overtime (play begins at 6:42 on video).

Boston College was getting hot, and about to gain even more momentum heading into the most important time of the year. Parker Milner had come back in-net and looked stronger every game, and the team around him responded as well. After the Beanpot final, the Eagles had six regular season games to go, winning all of them to secure the #1 seed in the Hockey East Tournament. Amazingly, Milner posted three shutouts in those six contests with the Eagles outscoring their post-Beanpot opposition 25-4.

Along the way, Jerry York gained his 900th career win against Merrimack on February 17.  With the way things went thereafter, he will almost certainly set the all-time record by about midway through the 2012-13 season.

When their Hockey East quarterfinals against UMass began in early March, the Eagles were by then on an 11-game win streak.

Veteran stars like Chris Kreider and Brian Dumoulin continued to have very good seasons, there were emergent players coming up in big ways, such as Parker Milner and Barry Almeida, and there were freshman phenoms crashing onto the college hockey scene, namely Johnny Gaudreau. All of these young men and more contributed to Boston College getting their season back on track, but the best was yet to come.

Some figured that with the way UMass played some tough games against the Eagles in the regular season, this would be a hard series, perhaps even going a full three games. Boston College would have none of that, however, earning two hard-fought wins over the Minutemen, 2-1 and 3-2, respectively, to close it out in the minimum number of games. A recurring theme, as it would be later in March and in through April, was Parker Milner getting the job done and his offense making enough big plays to keep the momentum going.

Fortune favored Boston College in the semifinal, as #7 seed Providence advanced and had a date with the Eagles by virtue of their quarterfinals win over UMass-Lowell in three games. BC had a long win streak over the Friars, about as long as their active win streak at that point, and neither ended at the TD Garden. Their 4-2 win sent them back to the title game, facing the same Maine team that embarrassed them two months earlier.

According to an old Klingon proverb, revenge is a dish best served cold. Boston College avenged their embarrassment in Orono with a solid 4-1 win on St. Patrick’s Day at the TD Garden, winning the Lamoriello Trophy for the third year in a row and fifth time in six years. By then, the Eagles had long-since re-established their #1 ranking and were rewarded accordingly in the next day’s NCAA Tournament selection.

Douglas Jones-US PRESSWIRE

BC’s road to the Frozen Four began as expected in Worcester for regional action. Being the #1 overall seed has its perks, after all, and getting to play within an hour of your campus is one such benefit. Also, getting to face the weakest team in the field is another. Eagles fans knew that Air Force, the semifinal opponent, had strong goaltending, but that was about all. Nevertheless, Boston College had a strong offense and strong goaltending, and that was the difference in a hard-fought 2-0 win to advance to the regional final against the defending national champions, Minnesota-Duluth.

Some said BC’s performance against the Falcons wasn’t good enough, and it was nowhere near as dominant as one might expect (but give credit to AFA’s goalie), but in the Minnesota-Duluth game, few had that complaint. Parker Milner recorded his second-straight shutout in the tournament, blanking the high-powered Bulldogs offense, 4-0, to earn yet another trip to the Frozen Four. The calamity of a first-round defeat last year was long forgotten and BC was back where they belonged for the tenth time since 1998.

While there, the opposition only got tougher (but the weather outside got much nicer, as they went to Tampa). The Minnesota Golden Gophers, another supercharged offensive team, were the national semifinal opponent. Sure, this time Parker Milner allowed a goal, but the Gophers allowed six in a game that started competitively but saw the Eagles pull away in grand style. After a 16-game stretch in the middle of the season where Boston College looked lifeless and mediocre, they were now playing like an unstoppable freight train with only one opponent left in the way: Ferris State.

The final score for the national championship game said 4-1, but there was nothing easy about it. This was a tie game or one-goal contest throughout the vast majority, but as typically happens in title games, legends are born. Johnny Gaudreau, whom we all had seen do many special things on the ice throughout the course of the season, buried a late highlight-reel goal with about three minutes to go to all but put the game away. One more score was to come, but Boston College had climbed the mountain again and were national champions for the third time in five years.

Douglas Jones-US PRESSWIRE

One can never stop marveling at the job that Jerry York does with these teams year-in and year-out, getting tremendous talent and turning his club into champions. In April 2012, he did it again, but not without the help of many exceptional hockey players. In particular, Parker Milner, the Most Outstanding Player in the 2012 NCAA Tournament, bounced back from a mid-season benching and led his team to the ultimate goal. He is a microcosm of what his team did, coming back from a serious slump to get hot at the right time and ride the wave all the way to another trophy. The fact that getting to their goal did not come easy to them right from the first puck drop made the season all the more exciting, meaningful, and awe-inspiring.

Of course, there were losses of manpower after the glorious run ended. Chris Kreider and Brian Dumoulin finally headed to the NHL (with Kreider making an instant impact on the New York Rangers), with others like Barry Almeida, Tommy Cross, and Paul Carey departing due to graduation. Still, there is no reason for BC fans to fear the future. As long as Jerry York is here and all those trophies are still visible to recruits, they’ll see the dynastic tradition BC has built in the last decade. Boston College hockey doesn’t rebuild — it reloads, and York’s pitch to the best talent is simple: if you want to win, you come here. It’s hard to argue with his results.

Thank you, Boston College hockey, for giving us a season to remember and being a bright spot in a down year.

Boston College 2011-12 in Review, Part III: Men’s Hockey - Soaring to Glory - Soaring to Glory - A Boston College Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and more.

Greg M. Cooper-US PRESSWIRE

Part I: Football

We continue on reviewing the year that was in 2011-12 Boston College sports, giving a final postmortem (for most teams, anyway) and committing their seasons to the history books. Today’s retrospective involves the BC men’s basketball team, which saw a tremendous amount of change.

The head coach, Steve Donahue, was the same, but the players definitely were not. Familiar faces like Reggie Jackson, Joe Trapani, Corey Raji, and Biko Paris, amongst others, were all gone. In came inexperienced 18-year olds such as Patrick Heckmann, Ryan Anderson, Lonnie Jackson, and Dennis Clifford, while adding a transfer in junior Matt Humphrey. In total, 75% of the opening day roster in November had never touched the court in a BC uniform.

As such, most people assumed this 2011-12 team would be bad. How bad was a matter of frequent debate, and the non-BC fan consensus was that the Eagles would win five games or less, probably not one in the ACC, and may rank amongst the conference’s worst teams of all-time. My prediction, on the other hand, was for 10 wins and at least two in the ACC. I was half-right, with BC managing only nine overall wins but four in the conference.

The new-look Eagles began their campaign on November 14 at Conte Forum while hosting the New Hampshire Wildcats. For the first time in a while, BC basketball and its fans were truly sailing into the unknown, not having a clue what to expect from the kids — or, for many, who they even were. On that first night, anyway, they got a 67-64 win in which Patrick Heckmann led the way with 19 points. It wasn’t perfect, and there were a lot of things the kids could do better, but at least for a few days, they were above .500.

Whatever good tidings had been fostered by the UNH win were barbecued at the DCU Center on November 18 as the young Eagles lost to Holy Cross by 22 points in a game that was nearly out of reach at halftime. It got even worse three days later at Conte Forum as the Eagles were pulverized by the Massachusetts Minutemen, 82-46. The latter, which was the fifth-worst BC sports moment of 2011, was basketball’s worst loss in eight years and most lopsided ever to UMass.

The 76 Classic in Anaheim over Thanksgiving break wasn’t much kinder. In the first game, BC played a better game against Saint Louis and still lost, then scratched and clawed their way to an overtime win over UC-Riverside (in which Heckmann dropped 32), and were easily dismissed by New Mexico. The two teams that beat them ended up being NCAA Tournament teams as expected, but it was still needed experience in playing better opposition.

A recurring theme in these losses, as it would be in many more of BC’s defeats in 2011-12, were sloppy mistakes and inexplicably-cold shooting. The dumb turnovers were a problem in most games, but the Eagles began to develop of habit of going offensively comatose for an extended stretch, sometimes for upwards of 10 minutes, allowing the opposition to pull away. What Eagles fans saw up until this point was only the beginning of the freshman frustration.

The Eagles returned home and faced even more bad times, falling out of games with Boston University and Penn State which were much closer than the score indicated. BC appeared to get a bit of a spark, however, when Jordan Daniels entered the lineup against Providence. Once more, BC lost, but it was one of their more noble efforts of the season. That Providence near-miss gave them a little momentum, which they soon turned into their only three-game win streak of the season, taking down Stony Brook, Bryant, and Sacred Heart. Not exactly Kentucky, Indiana, and Syracuse, but they were wins for a team that definitely needed them.

Fun times were over once Harvard, the dreaded Cambridge team that had beaten BC three times in a row, made it four-straight wins over the Eagles. This loss was consequently followed by a crushing double-overtime loss at home to a very bad Rhode Island team.

Few expected that ACC play would turn out well for the Eagles after such a poor non-conference run, but for a little while, people were given hope. Sure, they lost as expected at Chapel Hill, but Boston College followed it up with home wins against Clemson and Virginia Tech in succession. Just like after the New Hampshire win, for a little while, at least, BC was above .500 in the conference. It wouldn’t last.

Michael Ivins-US PRESSWIRE

The Eagles “paid” for it, in a sense, with a six-game losing streak. A few of those games were closer than the score indicates, but BC would not break into the win column again until February 8 at home again when the Eagles broke through for what was by far their biggest win of the season. That night, BC took out #17 Florida State, 64-60, showing to Eagles fans for at least one night that the young Eagles were maturing into capable ACC players. Granted, Florida State played nothing near a good game, but BC was able to take advantage and perform well enough to win; in particular, Jordan Daniels stole the show with 21 points and a number of big shots made to preserve their fragile lead.

They paid for that, too, with a four-game losing streak. In particular, the very next game was disastrous as Boston College sought out its first road win of the season. They went to Blacksburg, Virginia, and blew a game they led most of the way against Virginia Tech in the closing seconds. What would have been that elusive 10th win of the season in the final tally went up in flames that night, and as it turns out, their last, best chance at a road win in 2011-12 vanished.

BC found one last win on Leap Day against Georgia Tech at home, but followed it up with a season-finale loss to Miami and an NCAA Tournament loss to NC State. The latter never felt competitive, and the fact that the Eagles were down 14-0 out of the gate might have something to do with it.

===========

Bob Donnan-US PRESSWIRE

A year of frustration and growing pains ended at 9-22 (4-12). It was very bad, but still managed to catch a few ACC observers off-guard (mainly because the Eagles found a way not to go 0-16 in the conference).

A season of ups and down, mostly downs, in the standings also saw players emerging and sinking into the background. For example, Patrick Heckmann started off the season on fire, taking games over and putting up big numbers, but he became injured almost right away and eventually got sick with mono. Over the course of the season, it seemed as though he lost his game and Coach Donahue relegated him to the bench. Meanwhile, the most prominent player to rise up was Ryan Anderson, who by the end of the season became the Eagles’ best player and most successful rebounder. Just about everyone else had their hits or misses as expected.

Following the season, we knew that there was not going to be much natural roster attrition (as in, people graduating), since there were so few seniors. Sure, we lost minor role-players or bench-warmers like John Cahill and Peter Rehnquist, but if anyone else was to go, it’d be via transfer. By the spring, we found out that two such players were junior Matt Humphrey and sophomore Gabe Moton. Humphrey sat out 2010-11 due to transfer but had graduated at the end of the 2011-12 school year, so he could leave and find a new opportunity as he saw fit. For Moton, his transfer is possibly related to playing time and role on the team. His minutes on an inexperienced team barely increased from his freshman year and with new players like Olivier Hanlan on their way in, Moton was destined to be the odd-man-out.

When it comes to the roster, 2012-13 isn’t going to look much different than 2011-12. A few new faces will arrive while a few old ones will depart, but none are irreplaceable. The core of this young Boston College team remains, and as we move forward to the next school year, we will find out if the hard lessons they’ve learned this year sunk in. It was a rough season, but a necessary one for the kids to grow up and discover what life is like in the ACC. We’ll all have to wait until November to see what has or has not changed, but in the meantime, we can all hope that the players are spending the conclusion of this academic year getting acquainted with the weight room.

Tomorrow: your national champion men’s hockey team

Boston College 2011-12 in Review, Part II: Men’s Basketball - Soaring to Glory - Soaring to Glory - A Boston College Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and more.

Greg M. Cooper-US PRESSWIRE

It’s finally time to put a period on the 2011-12 sports year at Boston College and move on (and why not, as aside from hockey, it was an unmitigated disaster). Chronologically, the first major sport was football, and that is where we begin today.

In a way, it’s logical that we start with football, anyway. This 4-8 season, as it turned out, gave us all a good indication of the general direction of the year in BC sports. Heading into the 2011 season, there was some optimism, but it was met by concern over the difficulty level of the schedule. Unfortunately, the schedule turned out to be more manageable than expected, but the Eagles’ record didn’t show it.

The first disappointment came on September 3, opening day. Boston College faced Northwestern in a non-conference contest and lost at home, 24-17. The Eagles amassed quite a few offensive yards, but got beaten by backup quarterback Kain Colter and were unable to convert those yards into points. When all was said and done, the Wildcats made the plays to win and BC didn’t; it was a discouraging loss, and BC fans didn’t necessarily feel any better having to play an improved UCF team on the road in the second week.

Now we know UCF actually got much worse in 2011, but when BC visited Orlando, you could have fooled them. The Eagles offense, as has been their calling card since the days of Gary Tranquill, was stymied and only managed three points while the Knights eventually pulled away to a big win. It is perhaps most notable, however, for the mysterious disappearance of Kevin Rogers, who left the team after this game (after just two games as the offensive coordinator; he was replaced by Dave Brock). Thankfully, he was miraculously healed of his ill health in time to secure an assistant job at Temple right after the season ended.

Unfortunately for the football team itself, there was no healing. In fact, things got measurably worse the next week when they returned home to Alumni Stadium and promptly lost a soul-crushing game to Duke, 20-19. This loss put the Eagles at 0-3 for the first time in 20 years. Boston College led the game 19-7 in the second quarter and actually looked somewhat capable, but they were unable or unwilling to maintain any offensive rhythm thereafter, letting Duke get back in the game and clip them in the closing quarter. The moment everyone remembers, however, is Nate Freese missing a chip-shot field goal in the final minute which may have won the game.

I am not certain I subscribe to what YES Network broadcaster Michael Kay calls the “fallacy of the predetermined outcome,” which in this case would hold that BC beating Duke might have given a psychological boost and changed the complexion of their season. Frankly, those claiming that Freese should have made the field goal are right, but are missing the point: the fact that the Eagles were losing to Duke at all is a problem, and we now know with the benefit of hindsight that they’d still not have made a bowl and that the team was deeply flawed, starting at the top. Of course, making Duke’s thoroughly-meh quarterback look like Joe Montana also did not help. Anyone with two operational brain cells to rub together could see something was clearly wrong with this team.

What gave Boston College a boost in the following week was being paid a visit by the Massachusetts Minutemen, an FCS team in transition to the big boy division. UMass got creamed by the Eagles to the tune of a 45-17 loss, and finally, BC got in the win column in 2011. Confidence began to flow again for some, though just about everybody expected the Eagles to get their first win here, and not all was lost as Montel Harris returned from injury. We know how that turned out, eh?

The following week, Boston College hosted Wake Forest and lost, 27-19, to fall to 1-4. Not only that, but they lost Harris to re-injury; as we now know, that would be the last time we’d ever see him in a BC uniform. Losing to Duke and Wake Forest at home in the same season took a toll on the fans, and the natives started getting restless.

Successive weeks were no better; BC lost to Clemson (36-14) and Virginia Tech (30-14). The only reason the Hokies didn’t score 37 (and cover the spread, for what it’s worth) is because Frank Beamer had his boys take a knee practically on the goal line as the game was about to end, in a classy gesture. This is in contrast to BC’s coach named Frank, who on more than one occasion took a knee going into the half with time on the clock and timeouts in his pocket, in a play-not-to-lose gesture. The other contrast is that Virginia Tech’s Frank ended up winning a lot of games.

Now at 1-6, it took us until a snowy, miserable game in Maryland to see any life from the Eagles at all. BC earned their second win of the season in College Park, 28-17. It was a very lopsided performance, more than the score indicates, and especially with regards to rushing yards as opposed to passing yards. Boston College ran for 372 yards while passing for just 32; Maryland rushed for almost 200 yards themselves. For a change, the Eagles actually had a gameplan for the bad weather and stuck to it with successful results, but to be fair, Maryland’s defense was also Charmin-soft and couldn’t stop your grandmother in a Hoveround that afternoon.

Greg M. Cooper-US PRESSWIRE

Then, on the night of November 3, the Eagles hosted the Florida State Seminoles on a Thursday night game and put forth one of the most pathetic spectacles I have seen by a team representing my alma mater in eight years of being a fan. The game, a 38-7 blowout loss, was completely bereft of redeeming qualities and managed to embarrass Boston College on national television (“Boston College” actually trended on Twitter that night, for all the wrong reasons). When you’re running draw plays on 2nd & long AND 3rd & long and punting in enemy territory down 30+, you’ve given every indication to the brave souls who watched this gridiron abortion that you’re not trying. I stand by every harshly critical remark I made in the aftermath of that catastrophe, and continue to do so today.

Michael Ivins-US PRESSWIRE

A bit of pride was restored the following week when Boston College beat Tom O’Brien and NC State, 14-10, to earn just their third win of the season. The offense racked up only 190 yards and was still rather useless, but the defense was stout and made the big stops it needed to win. One could see that even though there were many issues with this Boston College team, the players were still giving it their best shot. Nobody wants to lose, and the Eagles players showed that Senior Day that they still cared.

The next weekend at Notre Dame, the defense played hard again, but the offense continued sputtering as they lost, 16-14. Boston College was now mired in a 3-8 season with one game to go, losing to their hated rivals from South Bend for the third year in a row. Most knew how this game would turn out when quarterback Chase Rettig started looking sharp at the end of the first half and took BC down the field for a touchdown — then with possession again, over a minute to go, and two timeouts, the coaches took the ball away from the offense and kneeled out the half. At 3-8, it’s not like BC had anything to lose (aside from the game, which they did), but following one of Rettig’s best drives of the season, they didn’t try their luck again.

In the final week, on the road against Miami, most of us had a strong feeling that Luke Kuechly was on his way out. What better way than to send him out with a win? Fortunately for him and the team, they got that win, 24-17. Kuechly did a lot of that work himself, with the difference-making score being a pick-six by the current Carolina Panther himself. Miami, for their part, was on a self-imposed bowl probation, playing in a mostly-empty stadium and clearly not concerned with the final outcome. BC, to their credit, took advantage and looked alright.

By then, however, a certain level of outrage had been built within the fanbase, and more than a few (including myself) called for change at the top after BC’s first losing season in over a decade and several years of diminishing returns. Our athletic director, however, had other ideas, not only telling us that Spaziani would come back, but that he was the “best coach we’ve had in the 15 years that I’ve been here,” clearly giving a verbal middle finger to the fans while insulting their intelligence at the same time.

Bob DeChiara-US PRESSWIRE

As the offseason months went on, things did not improve. Not only did Boston College have to watch bowl season at home for their sofa, but they learned officially that they’d be losing Luke Kuechly while also saying goodbye to Max Holloway, who was “excited” to move on to the next stage in his life. BC lost a small handful of recruits who were interested as well, including Akeel Lynch, who switched to Penn State.

Boston College lost some coaches as well. First, special teams coach Mike Dawson left football altogether. Next, Dave Brock was demoted from interim offensive coordinator to special teams while Doug Martin came in from New Mexico State to take over. Brock eventually left for Rutgers, becoming their offensive coordinator. The Eagles also lost Ryan Day, who became Temple’s co-offensive coordinator (and the mysterious Kevin Rogers showed up shortly thereafter as the quarterbacks coach). The jury is still out on the replacements, obviously, but some, like new ST coach Sean Desai, are appealing coaching candidates.

The spring game in late March was relatively troublesome. One does not want to read too much into such a game, but Rettig was undeniably terrible and there was next to no depth in the defensive backfield — neither of which inspire much confidence for 2012 at all. Of course, the game was also played in late March on a cold, rainy day with a virtually-empty Alumni Stadium.

The Jaryd Rudolph scandal notwithstanding, the news kept getting worse. In late April, Montel Harris was dismissed from the team for a “repeated violation” of team rules. We do not know now what they are, and we may never, but the take-away here is that Harris is no longer on the team. Who knows if he’d have contributed in 2012, anyway, but the perception that Boston College is a program in decline and that Spaziani is on the hot seat continued to grow within the media as the 2011-12 school year concluded.

Heading into the 2012 season, if Boston College has a season much like 2011, fan frustration may reach a breaking point.

Tomorrow: Part II, men’s basketball

Boston College 2011-12 in Review, Part I: Football - Soaring to Glory - Soaring to Glory - A Boston College Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and more.

In the coming days, Soaring to Glory will review all that happened in the 2011-12 sports year at BC, and believe me, there is a lot to cover.

Following the last of the five-part review, regardless of your appetite level for BC football, STG will launch the biggest preview series we’ve ever done to get you set for the 2012 season. This will take place in the near future, and you won’t be able to miss it. Between that and other news, Soaring to Glory will get you through the whole summer with new content every day, right up until Miami visits Alumni Stadium on September 1.

Soaring to Glory: Closing Out 2011-12 (Filler Material) - Soaring to Glory - Soaring to Glory - A Boston College Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and more.

When Sunday’s series finale ended, however, the Eagles found that they had neither. The #10 North Carolina Tar Heels swept BC away in their three-game series, sending the Eagles to 20-29 (9-18) with only three conference games to go: a series against Duke in two weeks.

On Saturday afternoon, Boston College had a 5-2 lead in the middle game after it was suspended for several hours due to rain. When the contest resumed in the fifth inning, North Carolina battled back and made their way to a 6-5 win, snatching a much-needed Eagles victory from BC. UNC tied the game right away when they came up to bat in the bottom of the 5th against Nate Bayuk, who allowed all three unearned runs — BC committed two errors in the inning to force the tie.

North Carolina took the lead for good in the bottom of the 7th on an RBI double, while Boston College did not plate a run after the extended rain delay.

On Sunday, the Eagles never led. UNC scored all four of their runs in the first four innings of the game, and it would be all they needed as BC scratched out just one run in the top of the 4th. Taking the loss for the Eagles was Eric Stone, now 1-3 on the season; only three Boston College players got hits: Spenser Payne, Andrew Lawrence, and Matt Pare.

Boston College’s ACC tournament hopes have virtually evaporated this weekend with the North Carolina sweep. Though their final series of the year is against last-place Duke at 7-17, BC, with three games left in ACC play, have put themselves in a near-impossible situation mathematically.

The Eagles are two and a half games behind the #8 spot in the field. BC’s maximum number of wins in the conference is 12, which means that Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech would have to lose the vast majority of their games while BC sweeps Duke and Wake Forest makes no advance. In all likelihood, however, the Eagles’ shot at Greensboro ended this past weekend. A season which began with a promising 6-2 record and an early-season tournament win looks set to end in disappointment.

Since the Red Sox exhibition game, Boston College has gone 14-27 overall.

The Eagles next play two games against Fordham at BC on Saturday and Sunday.

BC Eagles’ ACC Baseball Hopes Slim After UNC Sweep - Soaring to Glory - Soaring to Glory - A Boston College Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and more.

On Friday evening, the Eagles baseball team fell to the #10 North Carolina Tar Heels in a 15-1 rout. On Saturday evening, Boston College took a 5-2 lead into the fifth inning before the game entered a seemingly-indefinite suspension due to wet weather. The game is expected to be resumed on Saturday night.

As a result of Friday’s loss, the Eagles fell to 20-27 (9-16), cutting their slim ACC Tournament berth’s margin of error down even further, making a Saturday win crucial to their postseason hopes. Boston College has slipped into 10th in the conference standings for the time being, while holding the second-worst overall record ahead of Duke.

From the Boston College perspective, Friday night’s contest was a disaster. North Carolina struck in the first inning for a run, followed by eight in the second, and two more in the third, fourth, and fifth each to put the Heels ahead 15-0 after five innings. Hunter Gordon got the start for the Eagles and did what they call “taking one for the team” in pitching four futile innings, allowing 12 earned runs.

The Eagles mashed out nine hits but only converted it into a run once; Tom Bourdon and and pinch hitter John Hennessy both had two hits apiece in the defeat.

In Saturday’s second game, expected to resume at approximately 8:30pm, the Eagles were the team to get off to a good start offensively. So far, Blake Butera has two hits and two RBI in his three at-bats, while seven Eagles have already tallied hits. Eric Stevens pitched 3.1 innings with two earned runs allowed.

Sunday’s series finale will be on ESPN3.

Eagles Lose First Game, Lead Second Suspended Game at UNC - Soaring to Glory - Soaring to Glory - A Boston College Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and more.