Sam Apuzzo and Kenzie Kent have already checked the box next to "make history" on their to-do lists for Boston College. They hope to add a few exclamation points during their final NCAA women's lacrosse tournament.

Kent and Apuzzo -- described as a "once-in-a-lifetime duo," by coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein -- have a chance to bring home a first NCAA women's championship in any sport to Boston College. The 28-team tournament culminates with the final four on Memorial Day weekend at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. The second-seeded Eagles (19-1) face the Dartmouth-Colorado winner in their opening game Sunday.

Boston College was the national runner-up each of the past two seasons. The Eagles fell by a single goal, 16-15, a year ago to James Madison and lost 16-13 to Maryland in 2017.

"That we have fallen short so many times just gives me motivation to appreciate every single day that I'm out there," said Kent, a rare dual-sport star who has come agonizingly close to titles in both.

Three years ago, Kent was a forward for the Eagles' ice hockey team that won its first 40 games before a crushing loss to Minnesota in the NCAA final. The following year, she became the first player in Division I lacrosse history to be named Most Outstanding Player at the final four on a team that didn't win.

Apuzzo starred on that team, too, and in 2018 she emerged as the sport's most dominant player. She took home the Tewaaraton Award, the top individual accolade, and her dazzling goal in the national semifinals over Maryland went viral.

"I must have watched that 20 times," said Kent, referring to the clip where Apuzzo's footwork wizardry dropped a Terrapins defender to the ground before her missile found the back of the net. That ended Boston College's 0-13 drought against Maryland, which has won 13 NCAA titles. But two days later, Boston College lost the heartbreaker to James Madison.

After going undefeated during the regular season, another loaded Boston College team arrives at another NCAA tournament. But this year there's a twist.

Finally done toggling between two sports, Kent is immersed in lacrosse. Last year, wanting a break from balancing two sports with academics, she sat out lacrosse to focus on hockey, leaving her one year of lacrosse eligibility for this season.

She returned as a graduate student, eager to discover just what it's like to play lacrosse in February.

"I understand so much more about the game," Kent said. "Coming into this year, I pretty much had to rebuild my relationship with pretty much everybody on the team. I had the whole fall to really work with them and get chemistry with Sam. We really haven't played that many games together."

Apuzzo suffered an ACL injury nine games into her freshman year and was already sidelined by the time Kent joined the team following hockey season. While both were part of that special 2017 season, it was again a season in brief, as the ice hockey team advanced to the Frozen Four, forcing Kent to miss the first 12 games of the lacrosse season.

"She's always been thrown in the middle of things," Apuzzo said. "Having her since the fall, having her go preseason and having her for the whole season has been great for our team and especially our connection."

Sam Apuzzo and Boston College will take the No. 2 seed into the NCAA tournament. Courtesy Boston College

Apuzzo is the quieter of the two, admittedly neurotic at times, sometimes to the point, jokes teammate Dempsey Arsenault, that she appears ready to jump out of her skin. "She's easy to scare," Arsenault said. "Just make a loud noise."

Inside the Boston College circle, Apuzzo's aptitude for the game Candy Crush is as talked about as her stickwork. "Her level is in the thousands," Arsenault noted.

Kent is more laid back in conversation, but she's as competitive playing pool or pingpong in the basement of her family's Norwell, Massachusetts, home as she is in hockey or lacrosse. She relaxes with documentary films or her latest binge, "The Act."

Any differences between them aren't evident on the field. Apuzzo and Kent, along with ACC midfielder of the year Arsenault, are the key cogs. Apuzzo (first), Arsenault (second) and Kent (third) were the top three picks in the 2019 Women's Professional Lacrosse League draft. Eight starters return from last year's final team, and remember, Kent wasn't among them.

"Sam and Kenzie overlap in their strengths," Walker-Weinstein said. "Sam is one of the greatest scorers and Kenzie has the sickest vision. Assisting is a fine art, and Kenzie has completely got it down. She understands timing and knows who to keep her eye on. Like Tom Brady, she knows what to do in the exact moment."

"Nobody wants to finish this season with any regrets." Kenzie Kent

Apuzzo and Kent don't exchange words in the clutch. It's all in the eyes, a glance in a millisecond from playmaker to scorer.

"I feel like she looks into my soul with those eyes," Apuzzo said.

"I literally need to just throw it into space, she'll catch it, and you know she's going to score any time she has the ball in front of the net," Kent said.

When the West Babylon, New York, native graduates with a bachelor's degree in applied psychology and communication, she'll do so as the lacrosse program's all-time leader in points, goals and draw controls, and the school's only Tewaaraton recipient.

"We've had games where Kenzie's unstoppable and Sam's unstoppable," Walker-Weinstein said. "What we have to figure out is how to make that happen at the same time."

That has been the focus since North Carolina ended Boston College's perfect season in the ACC title game, a 15-13 upset when the Tar Heels dominated the draw.

"At this point, it's about fine-tuning our decision-making," Apuzzo said. "We're going to make sure not to make the same mistakes again."

After all, the goal remains the same as it did back when both signed.

"To be there two years in a row and to be so close, I think even the alumni feel it," Kent said. "Your program is so close to getting over that hump. Falling short so many times really helps me appreciate every single day that I'm with the team and every single game.

"That we haven't reached our full potential yet -- that's really motivating. Nobody wants to finish this season with any regrets."