Lacrosse, Sports

Lacrosse coughs up three-goal lead in overtime loss

With just under four minutes left in Saturday’s game against No. 15/9 University of Notre Dame, the No. 11/12 Boston University lacrosse team was sitting pretty.

With senior attacker Traci Landy’s second goal of the game, the Terriers had jumped out to a 6-4 lead and corrected the offensive woes that had led to only one first-half goal, while putting a halt to the momentum of a Notre Dame attack that had nearly closed a three-goal deficit.

But costly Terrier (4-3) turnovers in the game’s waning minutes allowed the Fighting Irish to close the two-goal gap and send the game into overtime. In the second overtime period, senior attacker Gina Scioscia scored on a free-position shot to give Notre Dame (4-1) the 7-6 victory.

“Turnovers got [us],” said BU coach Liz Robertshaw. “When we needed a draw control, we’d have a 10-second lapse in focus, and we would lose a draw control when we really needed it.

“When you’re up by two, everyone’s feeling good. We needed to get it to our attacking end, and we would have a turnover. That’ll get you in a game like this and especially against a team like Notre Dame.”

BU totaled 11 turnovers in each of the regulation periods, almost as many as the team’s 14.8 turnovers per game average coming into Saturday.

Given the turnovers and the lack of time spent in BU’s attacking zone, the Terrier defense had to be on top of its game, and for most of the game it was.
While the BU offense scored only once in the first half, the defense kept the Terriers within striking distance, holding the Fighting Irish to only two goals over the game’s first 30 minutes. The seven goals allowed on the afternoon were a season-best for BU.

The defense was then called upon to step up from the end of regulation through the first overtime period. Notre Dame cycled the ball for the majority of each period before finally attacking the cage with just 15 seconds left on the clock, and the Terrier defense refused to break, keeping the game tied.

“I was really impressed with our defense today,” Robertshaw said. “I think they were very focused. They knew the game plan. They knew what Notre Dame was to going to try to do, and I think they reacted to it very well. I was fine with us just sitting tight and waiting for that shot so we get the chance to go the other way.”

However, even the strongest of defenses can only hold for so long.

With just under a minute to go in the second overtime period, the Terriers were called for fouls on three successive Notre Dame attacks on net. On the third try, Scioscia fired a low shot past BU senior goalie Rachel Klein on a free-position try to give the Fighting Irish the game’s golden goal.

BU, on the other hand, did not have a single free-position shot the entire game. Coming into the contest, the Terriers were 12-for-36 on free-position attempts for 23 percent of their total scores.

Without a sustained attack, the Terriers were unable to draw the fouls that lead to free-position opportunities.

“We had zero free-positions today, and it’s a factor,” Robertshaw said. “Our team is used to getting to the line, and we didn’t get to the line today. So they needed to create more opportunities for them to go to the cage.”

Robertshaw also attributed the lack of scoring to a timid attitude on the offensive end, especially from the underclassmen.

“We saw some of the opportunities and just didn’t take them,” Robertshaw said. “I think that’s where with some of our younger players, some of our freshmen and some of our sophomores, they’re a little nervous to be the one to take that challenge with 30 seconds to go in an overtime period because if there’s a save or if they miss, it goes the other way. We need to get them over that fear, that hesitation and just go when they have the opportunity.”

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