After a nail-biter loss against No. 3 University of Connecticut, the No. 12 Boston University field hockey team will look to redeem itself in a conference matchup Friday against the University of Vermont.
For the Terriers (7–4, 1–0 America East), the main concern is capitalizing on an opportunity for a win. They are getting a slight break after four consecutive ranked opponents that resulted in split wins and losses.
While Vermont (1–9, 0–1 America East) poses less of a threat than previous competition like the No. 5 University of Virginia (11–2) or the undefeated UConn (11–0), BU coach Sally Starr said it is by no means a guaranteed win.
“We’re really making sure we’re not overlooking this game,” Starr said. “Vermont is always very good at home … They’re not winning a lot of games, but they’re competitive in the games that have been on their home field.”
Over the course of the season, there have been several issues on and off the field for the Terriers, ranging from the early injury of freshman forward Sofie Laurito to an inability to convert against tough teams. However, a lot has changed since the early August scrimmages.
Laurito is back. There are more goals across the board, even against top five teams. Even fitness, which was a concern early on, has gotten much better.
“We’ve addressed [our] problems well,” Starr said. “It says a lot about our competitive will to win.”
Now that the season has more behind it than it has in front of it, the fact that the senior class is playing in some of its final games is becoming more and more obvious.
“We really want to go out winning the America East season championship,” Starr said. “Vermont is a conference game and we really want [to win] for our seniors, so Vermont is definitely a big game.”
There are a few major players sure to have an impact Saturday for BU. Senior back Jacinda McLeod has played every minute of every game and is the team’s leading scorer with five goals.
Senior forward/midfielder Tabi Hatch has also been performing well lately. The America East Player of the Week has just over half as much playing time as McLeod, but she has four goals, two of which helped the Terriers win over No. 22 University of Albany last Friday.
The main player for the Catamounts, however, is not on the attack. Despite the team’s losing record, junior goalkeeper Stephanie Zygmunt maintains a 71.9-percent save rate.
“One thing Vermont always has is good goaltending, particularly good goaltending at home,” Starr said. “We are going to have to manufacture quality shots to get past them.”
The Catamounts have not been up against many ranked teams. Except for the upcoming game against BU, their most highly ranked opponents were the then-No. 25 University of Massachusetts that resulted in a 10–1 blowout in mid-September and then-No. 24 University of Maine that ended in a 3–1 loss on Monday. Neither of them is presently ranked.
Home field advantage is sure to be a factor because of the importance Saturday night’s game has for the Catamounts. What promises to make Vermont a challenge is the combined celebration and mourning of the upcoming game.
It is the Catamounts’ homecoming during their 40th year of women’s sports, so there is an obvious drive to win on such a day.
A motivation for Vermont on a more personal note is the fact that the BU-Vermont game is Vermont’s first part of its “Stick It to Cancer” campaign to raise money for two cancer research funds, one of which is being named for the late Vermont alumna Stirling Winder who passed of osteosarcoma in late July at the age of 26.
With a win on Friday, BU would remain unbeaten within its conference after its first two in-conference matchups.
“We just have to out there and play our game,” Starr said. “More than anything … we have to respect them.”
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