After losing for the first time in the NCAA Quarterfinals to Northwestern University last season, the University at Albany women’s lacrosse team began this season as the preseason pick of five of six possible America East coaches to win the conference. Albany received 34 points in the poll, nine above the second place team, Boston University.
When the season got underway with non-conference games, that prediction seemed like it would play out with near-full accuracy. The Great Danes (8-3, 1-1 America East) lost only two of their eight non-conference games, first as the then-No. 16 team in the nation at the then-No. 6 team, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and as the then-No. 13 team hosting the then-No. 17 team, the University of Massachusetts.
But an 8-5 loss against the University of Maryland-Baltimore County in the Great Danes first game of the conference season knocked them out of the national rankings and dropped them back to third in the conference standings. On Saturday, they’ll host the team atop the America East table as the midway mark of the conference schedule approaches in s tilt with BU (7-4, 3-0 America East).
The Terriers, however, refuse to add even a slight dose of additional importance to the game.
“It’s another conference game for us,” said BU coach Liz Robertshaw. “I think every game has value and has a lot of weight to it.”
The Terriers enter off a 13-8 win over the University of New Hampshire this past Wednesday, their sixth straight win. BU’s three primary attacks led the scoring: senior Molly Swain and sophomore Mallory Collins with four goals and junior Danielle Etrasco with two goals. Sophomore goalkeeper Christina Sheridan saved eight shots.
“I like what I saw from us getting ahead and wanting to be a little more aggressive on cage,” Robertshaw said of Wednesday’s performance.
Albany comes in on a two-game win streak, beating Stanford University and Binghamton University at home in the past week. The last loss for the Great Danes was that aforementioned fault at UMBC, which came immediately after the loss to UMass.
Sophomore Ariana Parker tops the Albany scoring chart with 27 goals. Juniors Jess Antelmi and Rachael Burek trail her with 21 goals each. Antelmi also leads the team with 17 assists and 38 points. Sophomore Anna Berman spends the most time in net for Albanywith 632:39 in the cage over 11 games and 10 starts, with 54 saves and a 9.20 goals against average.
Robertshaw described a hard one-on-one defense, Antelmi’s ability to work inside the crease and Berman’s position in goal as some of the strongest threats facing BU this weekend, along with a general sense of precision and preparation.
“They’re very disciplined,” Robertshaw said. “We watched some film on Stanford, from the game against them, and how they scored and what they did and this team is very deliberate in what they like to do and they are good at it. So, when you make a mistake, they capitalize on it.”
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