Two steps forward, one step back. That’s been the theme for the No. 15 Boston University field hockey team’s season after a 3-2 loss to the University of New Hampshire on Saturday afternoon.
“It was an ugly hockey game,” said BU associate head coach Tracey Paul. “We didn’t play well. We didn’t fight well or consistently. It was not our best performance.”
The Wildcats (11-4, 3-0 America East) jumped ahead first when forward Hayley Rausch scored about 10 minutes into the first half, but BU (9-5, 2-1 AE) responded quickly thanks to sophomore fullback Jacinda McLeod’s goal on a penalty corner less than five minutes later.
The score stayed knotted at one early into the second half until UNH junior fullback Kyle Lyons netted the Wildcats’ second goal. Then, McLeod came up big again when she assisted on junior forward Andrea Greene’s team-leading 12th goal of the season that also came off a penalty corner.
McLeod’s strong offensive game is apparent in the box score, but that does not tell the whole story of one of the few bright spots in the game for the Terriers.
“Jacinda McLeod played really well defensively. She tackled well and came up a couple times with great individual effort,” Paul said.
McLeod’s contributions would all be for naught, though, as Rausch burned the Terriers again, this time in the final four minutes of the game. She fielded a rebound and lifted it past senior goalkeeper Amanda Smith for the eventual game-winner.
The one-goal differential is all too familiar to the Terriers, as it is their fourth one-goal loss out of five total losses on the season, but that is not what concerned the Terriers most. This was the first time that BU was outshot (16-10) and garnered fewer penalty corners (7-6) than the other team in a loss.
“That’s what we’re focusing on more right now,” Paul said. “They outplayed us, they beat us to balls.”
Paul added that BU failed to capitalize on several prime-scoring opportunities throughout the game.
“We had incredible scoring chances that we did not take advantage of,” Paul said. “We gave the goalkeeper the ball. We had several one-on-ones, two-on-ones, and we didn’t take advantage of the situation.”
The inability to capitalize has not been a problem in BU’s previous two conference games, which it won by a combined 10-0, but UNH was a whole different animal.
“They’re a very good team, they’re well-coached and well-disciplined,” Paul said. “So they were everything we thought they were going to be.”
But according to Paul, the loss was not so much due to UNH’s superior play as it was due to BU’s poor play.
“The goals against us came from our team’s errors,” Paul said. “We didn’t play as a team. I think the effort was there at times, but it wasn’t cohesive. It was almost like the team was looking for somebody to make a play and nobody did.”
Paul also argued that the extremely windy conditions and an academically busy week likely had an effect on BU’s performance.
“It was a real windy day, and we never play well in the wind,” Paul said, adding that the stress of midterms certainly didn’t help.
The Terriers’ worst loss on Saturday, though, had nothing to do with the scoreboard. During the game, Smith took a knee to the head. She insisted she was OK and finished the game, only to find out later that she was concussed. The team does not know when she will return, and sophomore Julie Collins will replace her for the time being, according to Paul.
The Terriers take on No. 5 University of Connecticut Wednesday afternoon at Jack Barry Field, trying to take another step forward as the regular season begins to wind down.
“We’re going to have to be at our best,” Paul said.
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