Terriers start AE play this weekend at home. Will NunnallyThe toughest non-conference stretch of the Terriers’ 2007 campaign is undoubtedly over, now that contests against Northwestern University and Yale University are in the books. But that doesn’t mean they can waltz through the rest of the year after a sluggish 3-4 start.
Coming off its first win since March 14, the Boston University lacrosse team will turn its attention to a different stretch of the schedule, with six of the final nine regular-season bouts coming against America East Conference rivals.
First up in its quest for a third-consecutive conference title will be the University of Maryland-Baltimore County tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. at Nickerson Field. In their last matchup April 1 of last year, the Retrievers stunned then-No. 11 BU, 16-13, despite four-goal performances from senior midfielder Lindsay Lewis and sophomore Jenny Hauser.
Paced by junior midfielder Kelly Fahey and sophomore attacker Ali Levendusky, UMBC connected on all but three of its 19 shots from inside the arc to snap the Terriers’ four-game winning streak at the time. The back-and-forth battle saw BU erase an early six-goal deficit, but counter strikes from Fahey and Levendusky late in the second stanza cemented the Retrievers’ win.
“Last year, I think it’s safe to say that we took UMBC a little lighter than we should have,” said BU coach Liz Robertshaw. “I honestly couldn’t tell you why, but it was definitely tough to be on the road with our team last year. Traveling is always tough, but we dug ourselves into a big whole last year where we shouldn’t have, and it got us in trouble with their attackers.”
This year, however, UMBC will make 400-mile trek, as Saturday’s contest will mark the Retrievers’ first return to Nickerson Field since BU routed a then-mediocre squad, 16-4, in 2005.
To get back to the aggressive and overpowering style that has earned them 15 conference wins in each of the last two seasons, Robertshaw looks for the Terriers to continue their annual domination by sticking to the introspective mentality that helped them knockoff BC this week.
“I think one of the biggest problems we had last year, and even the year before, was we focused more on the teams we were playing,” Robertshaw said. “Especially last year, we focused too much on UMBC’s team and not enough on executing our game plan. With the youth we have on this team, we need to keep focused on what we have to do, especially going into the conference stretch.”
Wednesday’s contest against BC showed the resurgence of the Terriers’ run-and-gun style offense that sunk Hofstra University earlier this season. Bolstered by speedster Sarah Dalton and freshman Traci Landy, BU peppered BC goalie Katie Monaghan with six unassisted goals.
“We definitely want to keep our players gaining confidence going into Saturday,” Robertshaw said. “Sarah and Traci are going to the goal again and attacking the net. We need to try to get a lot more fast breaks in and we are going to push to see what our legs give us.”
Aside from the Terriers’ fly offense, however, Robertshaw understands BU has to slow the ball down and generate a methodical offense in UMBC’s attacking zone.
“We get Angie [Martin] and [Lauren] Morton more involved in the offense zone when we slow the ball down,” Robertshaw said. “They are doing a great job back on defense, but the freelance gives them, and everyone, a chance to develop something for themselves.”
Defensively, the Terriers have seen a solid stretch of play from freshman Courtney Burd and Jenny Martin. Finally adjusted to the aggressive style of play displayed by senior quad-captain Noelle Hopper, Burd and Martin shut down BC’s midfield attack, forcing one turnover and nabbing a ground ball between the two.
“We had a lot of great surprises,” Robertshaw said. “Courtney and Jenny played very well and aggressively. I think our defense as a whole is playing much better, too. We don’t want to focus too much on them, because we want the ball out of the zone, but Jenna [does] a great job protecting the goal and everyone is contributing.”
Regardless of how BU goes about jamming sophomore netminder Susie Sweeney, its success will depend on its ability to attack UMBC from the start and to retain possession throughout the rest of the contest.
“We obviously need to make more shots,” Robertshaw said. “But we definitely need to be more controlled, keep the ball in our sticks and focus on not giving up the turnovers. If we do that, like we did against [BC], we’ll be a little more relaxed and be able to bring that into conference play.”
