Etrasco and Tilton connect during conference victory over Vermont

On paper, the last goal of the game for Boston University junior attack Danielle Etrasco looks like nothing out of the ordinary. It was scored with 20:20 remaining in the second half, concluding an open to the frame packed with offense. It made the game 14-12, continuing the build of the Terriers’ lead over the University of Vermont, and was assisted by senior attack Catie Tilton.

That last chunk of information gleaned from the box score matters most. For only the second time this year, BU’s leading goal scorer, Etrasco, and its leading assister, Tilton, connected for a goal. It was also Etrasco’s last goal and Tilton’s last assist of the game, a contest in which they led both teams in their respective categories.

It was a picture-perfect play as Etrasco, with the ball in her stick, swung around the top of the crease from the left, entering in an attempt to break her defender at the apex. She passed the ball to Tilton, who was standing a few feet to the goalkeeper’s right and front. Tilton then tossed the ball back over to Etrasco, who shook a few more of the many Catamount defenders in the inner crease before firing the ball into the back of the net.

“That was awesome,” said BU coach Liz Robertshaw with a bit of a grin. “That goal was the prettiest I’ve seen all year.”

Two players key to the Terriers’ success of late have been Etrasco and Tilton. Both have seen their leads in goals and assists either grow in Etrasco’s case or build from the bottom up in Tilton’s.

Etrasco’s position as the leading goal scorer for BU should not come as much of a shock. Last season, she started all 17 games for BU and was named the America East Co-Player of the Year. When the Terriers faced the Catamounts last season in Burlington, she set the program single-game record with nine goals.

Her five goals against Vermont marked the fourth time she has done that this season, each time leading the Terriers in that categorey. Only once has she scored a single goal: last week against Yale University.

Thinking about both the win over the Catamounts and the four-game win streak, Etrasco said the Terriers were coming together because of how they have had to respond to some more negative scenarios in games.

“It’s all about the overall fight that we have,” Etrasco said. “Even if we went down like we did in the beginning of the second half, we came back and we fought. There was no thought in our minds of losing that game, and I think we played and showed that.”

Tilton is a slightly different story. Last year, she had only 23 assists and over her career a grand total of 39. She already has one more assist than her total last year with nearly half of BU’s season left to play. Last week, at Saint Mary’s College, she set the program record for assists in a single game at nine and she came close to that accomplishment with seven versus Vermont.

During the Terriers’ two other games of its four-game win streak – during which more than three-quarters of Tilton’s assists have been recorded – she has slightly less of an impact.  She only had two against the University of California and one against Yale. Before the streak, she only had assists in two games this year: two in an 11-9 loss at Harvard University and three in BU’s first win of the year at George Mason University.

But what Tilton may lack in consistency, she makes up in total dominance of her statistical category. She is the only Terrier in double digits for assists on the season, and her closest competitor is Etrasco at nine.

Etrasco’s 32 goals, however, are closely followed by 27 from freshman attack Mallory Collins. The player closest to the pair is junior Kristen Mogavero at 16, who did not play against Vermont.

“They’re starting to click,” Robertshaw said of her team. “Do I think we’re perfect? No, and they’ll hear me say that on Monday. We have a lot to work on, but I really like where we’re going.”