It’s April. You should know what that means by now: BU’s other nationally ranked team is in conference play and preparing for a possible postseason run. Women’s lacrosse doesn’t enjoy the same spotlight as hockey ‘-‘- no female lacrosse player anticipates earning millions of dollars playing professional sports ‘-‘- but make no mistake, the BU women can play. Quite well, in fact.
If you’re new to the Terrier sports scene, here’s what you need to know about last season: BU started out 3-2 before going on a tear and winning 15-consecutive games. When Penn handed BU a season-ending 8-5 loss in the NCAA Quarterfinals, it was the Terriers’ first defeat in more than two months.
Of the nine Terriers to tally at least 10 points last season, seven have returned, with Lauren Morton (57 goals in 2008) the most significant departure. Despite the relative roster integrity, New Hampshire garnered a surprising two first-place votes in the America East preseason poll a few months ago, evidence of Morton’s impact.
Morton was a prolific scorer as a Terrier, scoring 160 goals in her four seasons, but the offense has been up to the task of replacing her, averaging 13.4 goals per game after completing the toughest part of the schedule. For a point of comparison, last year’s team scored 14.3, less than a goal more.
The biggest reason for BU’s effectiveness offensively has been Sarah Dalton. When the senior midfielder scored six goals to fuel the Terriers’ second-half comeback against New Hampshire yesterday, it wasn’t exactly a surprise: Dalton already has 47 goals this season in 10 games and leads the nation in scoring average with nearly five goals per game. Perhaps more importantly, Dalton is efficient despite taking such a high volume of shots, converting on over 60 percent of her attempts.
Despite Dalton’s outstanding play, yesterday’s win was the Terriers’ first against a ranked opponent this season. BU came close to defeating Vanderbilt, but couldn’t close the deal despite scoring 18 goals; against Syracuse and Penn, the Terriers couldn’t keep it close.
Looking at BU’s two losses by significant margins, the problems needing to be addressed aren’t consistent. Sure, the Terriers were outshot by large margins in each game ‘-‘- Syracuse had 15 extra shots and Penn had 16 ‘-‘- but the underlying cause of each shot differential is different.
Against Penn, BU was slightly behind in most team categories, with an edge in save percentage. However, the Orange beat the Terriers primarily due to a 19-7 edge in draw controls ‘-‘- most of the other non-shooting statistics were relatively even.
Dominating possession and holding an advantage in shots taken is very important in lacrosse, particularly for this BU team. The Terriers have not lost this season when taking more shots than their opponent. In order to generate this advantage, the Terriers need to win faceoff draws, avoid turnovers and beat their opponents to ground balls.
Looking at the cumulative statistics helps identify the problem with BU’s overall game this year. Last year, the Terriers were plus-30 in draw controls. This year, the Terriers are minus-17. Morton and Molly Collins combined for well over a third of BU’s draw controls last year; those contributions are missed.
Last year’s impeccable defense and goaltending have also slipped somewhat. In 2008, the Terriers allowed goals on less than 37 percent of shot attempts. This season, that value has climbed to nearly 46 percent. An easier remaining schedule suggests this year’s draw control and opposing shooting percentage figures will improve. If not, BU will have difficulty regaining last year’s form.
Then again, who is to say that this year’s team needs to replicate last year’s play? Each season is its own separate entity. Even if the path the Terriers have to take in order to reach the NCAA Tournament is similar ‘-‘- defeat conference opponents, win the conference tournament and win a play-in game to earn the autobid ‘-‘- the details have changed.
Last year, BU’s offensive attack featured a two-headed monster, with Dalton and Morton carving up opponents. This year, however, one of the heads is gone, and Dalton has to go it alone. In many ways ‘-‘- with apologies for the basketball analogy ‘-‘- Dalton resembles Stephen Curry. Everyone from the coach down to the four-year-old kid in the stands knows Dalton is going to be taking the shots, yet she continues to score at an astonishingly high rate.
Picture Dalton scoring five goals a game. It’s not hard to imagine: she’s scoring at nearly that rate right now. If BU makes the national tournament, that rate would give Dalton 100 goals, an NCAA single-season record. No, you don’t need new glasses. For the record ‘-‘- pardon the pun ‘-‘- the current high for a Terrier is 71 goals, set by Dalton just last year.
A star player carrying the team on a deep run into the postseason? Why, Stephen Curry did that with Davidson just last year! As with Curry, BU doesn’t exactly have national recognition when it comes to lacrosse ‘-‘- although the regional reputation is strong and growing ‘-‘- so a run at the title would make for a Cinderella story.
I think the slipper fits just fine.
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