Sophomore McKenzie Meehan notched her second career hat trick to lead Boston College past NC State, 3-2, on Sunday afternoon at Dail Soccer Field in Raleigh, N.C. It marks the second consecutive ACC victory for the Eagles this week as they improve to 6-5-0 overall and 3-3 in the ACC. BC defeated No. 9 Wake Forest on Thursday night at home. NC State is now 6-6-0 overall and 1-5-0 in the conference.

“It’s hard to get six points in a weekend in this league,’’ said BC head coach Alison Foley. “I thought our attack was real dangerous in the beginning but didn’t convert on some opportunities. NC State converted on both its chances so we made more of a game of it. At the end of the day, we did enough to get three points on the road and that’s really important at this point.’’

Meehan also registered an ACC leading sixth game-winning goal this season. She has now scored two or more goals in five games in two seasons. Her first career hat trick came on Sept. 1, 2013 in a win over Hofstra.

The Smithfield, R.I. native opened the scoring just three minutes into the game when she got her foot on a cross from junior Stephanie McCaffrey. It was McCaffrey’s team-leading seventh assist of the season.

Boston College took a 2-0 lead when Meehan scored off a long throw in from fellow sophomore Coco Woeltz.

NC State cut the lead in half when Caroline Gentry headed a long ball by the Eagles goalkeeper Alex Johnson (1 saves, 3-1).

At the half, BC held a 2-1 lead and had a 12-3 edge in shots.

The Wolfpack tied the game at 2-2 in the 57^th minute. NC State’s Brittany Stanko broke in on the right side alone and calmly placed the ball by the BC keeper.

Three minutes later, Meehan notched the game-winning goal when she headed in a cross from senior Patrice Vettori. The Eagles senior midfielder played crossed the ball into the box from right corner and Meehan was able to head it past the NC State goalkeeper Karly Gustafson (five saves). The goal gives Meehan career-highs in goals scored in a single season (10) and points (20). As a rookie, Meehan had nine goals, one assists for 19 points.

BC finished the match with 17 shots to NC State’s five. The Eagles also had four corner kicks to just one by the Wolfpack.

Game Notes: Casey Morrison, Lauren Bernard, Kate McCarthy and Coco Woeltz were the only field players to play the full 90 minutes … Freshman Andrea O’Brien saw her first action of the season. She played 12 minutes in the win … Goalkeeper Alex Johnson started her third consecutive game and is now 3-1 on the season … Boston College will hit the road again as the Eagles will play at No. 3/5 FSU on Thursday, October 3 at 7 p.m. The game will air on ESPN3.

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