The No. 12 Boston University lacrosse team continued its remarkable run, clinching its fifth-consecutive America East championship and automatic NCAA Tournament bid with a 16-6 victory over the No. 17 University of New Hampshire at Nickerson Field on Saturday.
In a matchup of teams that have met in the championship game in seven of the last eight years, the Wildcats (12-8, 4-3 AE) tried to avoid another loss to the Terriers (15-3, 7-0), who were looking for their 13th-straight win.
‘We knew we had to come out hard because UNH always comes out hard against us,’
BU coach Liz Robertshaw said. ‘We knew we had to execute our gameplan, and that was something I thought we did very well . . . When we play UNH, we know they’re gonna fight for a full 60 minutes, and that was something our girls were ready for. This is the last time they’re playing on Nickerson this year, and they wanted to go out with a bang.’
But unlike the teams’ first meeting this season when BU trailed 4-0 at the half before roaring back for a 9-8 victory, the Terriers struck first and kept the pressure up on Saturday. Less than three minutes into the game, senior captain Steph Walker notched the opening tally before UNH senior Sarah Von Bargen knotted the game two minutes later.
‘The first goal of the game ‘-‘- Steph Walker going in, no fear, catching it and just going to the cage, getting that shot, and just setting the tone for what we wanted to do today,’ Robertshaw said.
Then the Terriers took over. Senior captain Sarah Dalton sparked an 8-0 run, responding less than a minute after Von Bargen’s tally and earning a hat trick on a shot while falling down to close out the half with a 10-3 BU lead. Dalton, the nation’s top scorer during the regular season, finished the game with six goals, tying the championship game record, and wrapped up the tournament with 11, breaking a decade-old record. She was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player for her efforts.
Junior McKinley Curro also had six points on three goals and three assists, classmate Xan Weitzel had a goal and a game-high four dishes, and four other Terriers had a multi-point day. The offensive performance was even more impressive considering the Wildcats entered the contest allowing 8.13 goals per game, tops in the conference.
Redshirt junior Rachel Klein had another amazing turn in the cage against the Wildcats following her career-high 16-save effort in the first matchup. Klein recorded eight saves on the day. Four shots also fortunately ricocheted off the post, including three from Von Bargen, who finished the game with ahat trick.
‘[Klein] was awesome,’ Robertshaw said. ‘If I could’ve had one more person on the All-Tournament Team [which featured four Terriers], it was gonna be Rachel. It was an extremely tough decision that she wasn’t on that team, but she doesn’t need those accolades to know that she’s a great keeper. I thought she played so well, not just for herself, but for her team.’
The defensive unit as a whole also played well, limiting the Wildcat offense to six goals, seven less than its season average, and allowing no assists on the day.
‘[Our] defense was stellar,’ Robertshaw said. ‘The way they worked together, the way they got balls out in this game versus other games we’ve played against UNH, we didn’t give them second-, third- and fourth-chance opportunities in our defensive end. [Sophomore] Courtney Burd was great at clearing it out. [Sophomore]Corcoran Downey, [senior captain] Kelly Munroe ‘-‘- they just cleared it out very well today.’
The Terriers’ first-round opponent in the NCAA Tournament will be announced Sunday at 10 p.m. on CBS College Sports, and the game will be played Sunday, May 10. Whoever they face, the true test remains advancing deeper into the national tournament.
Although they became the first team in conference history to win five-straight championships, and have more titles (eight) than all other America East teams combined, the Terriers only have two first-round and two quarterfinal exits in the NCAAs to show for it. Robertshaw and Dalton both believe the team has what it takes to finally get over the hump this season.
‘They have to believe in themselves,’ Robertshaw said. ‘I think one of the keys to today . . . was keeping them loose. It was for a championship, but I think that we didn’t focus on the fact that it was a championship. We focused on it was a game against UNH. I think we need to try to take some of that pressure off the players. It really helps. So we’re gonna look to keep them loose, keep them playing great, and see if we can keep that trend going.’
‘We need to take each game one at a time,’ Dalton said. ‘I think, in the beginning of the year, we got some good experience. We played Syracuse. We played Penn. We played Vanderbilt. And those are top teams in the NCAAs, so we have that experience now. Now, it’s kind of focus on ourselves, know that we can play our game and know that we can play with anyone out there.’
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