AMHERST — Last year, the UMass women’s lacrosse team dropped only one game in the regular season: a 9-8 heartbreaker at the hands of Boston College in Chestnut Hill.

The rematch was a bit less heartbreaking.

UMass’ 2017 season opened with a 18-10 loss against the 17th ranked Eagles at Garber Field. The Eagles and senior attacker Kate Weeks controlled the in-state rivalry game. She netted eight goals.

It was the Minutewomen’s first home loss since the 2014 season.

Boston College got the scoring started just two minutes in when Weeks sent one past freshman goaltender Lauren Hiller. Hiller, who started over two returning goalies, took the loss in her first collegiate game. Still, head coach Angela McMahon praised her first-year goalkeeper.

“She got off to a great start, and I think she did a great job initiating our offense,” McMahon said. “She ignited our entire team. Everyone was behind her and supporting her, and she made some key saves that allowed us to take our short-lived lead.”

After a few empty possessions and early turnovers, UMass scored four unanswered goals over an eight-minute period. Two goals from senior midfielder Holly Turner and a goal each for senior midfielder Hannah Murphy and sophomore attacker Hannah Palau gave UMass a 4-1 lead with 17:14 left in the first half.

It proved to be their only lead of the day.

Boston College soon went on a run of its own, scoring five unanswered goals to lead 6-4 at halftime. UMass had 19 first-half fouls to go along with 11 turnovers, giving the Eagles plenty of chances to score early.

UMass went goalless until Holly Turner completed her hat-trick four minutes into the second half, ending a 17-minute scoring drought.

However, this failed to spark a UMass run, as the Eagles scored four goals in the next five minutes to take a commanding 12-5 lead with 20 minutes left.

Each team scored five more goals in the remaining minutes, with Weeks scoring once more in the final thirty seconds to seal the 18-10 victory.

UMass graduated four senior defenders from 2016, including starters such as Amber Tobin and the Farnham sisters Kate and Anne. Their absence was noted, as the experience of the Boston College attackers, led by Weeks, freed up the front of the net for scorers.

“I think our defense did a pretty good job, but I would have liked to contain number 24 [Weeks], because she got really hot,” McMahon said. “We tried to put a focus on her, but when you’re playing catch-up, you’re going to have some holes defensively. We were really exposed because we were trying to attack a little bit more, but you know, a loss is a loss.”

Boston College stopped the Minutewomen from controlling the draw game, something most of UMass’ opponents fail to do. The Eagles won 22 draws to just eight for UMass.

“They were first to the ball,” McMahon said of Boston College. “They were feisty and much quicker, and we have to do a better job so that we’re not reacting. We need to be the first ones to the ball wherever its going. It doesn’t matter where it is, we have to come up with it.”

“For lack of better words, just a bad day controlling the draw,” added Murphy. “That’s usually our strong suit, but we didn’t show what we usually show on the draw today. Not sure if it’s just a freak thing or what, but just a bad day for us.”

The Minutewomen are off until Feb., when they travel to Florida to play Colorado and Jacksonville over a three-day span.