Lacrosse facing physical Crimson team

After suffering a tough overtime loss to America East opponent University of Maryland-Baltimore County Saturday, the Boston University women’s lacrosse team will look to turn its season around Friday night, when the Terriers (2-5, 0-1 America East) take on Harvard University at Nickerson Field.

The Terriers last faced off against the Crimson (2-4) Feb. 25 of last year, when Harvard defeated BU 11-9, despite hat tricks from both senior attack Danielle Etrasco and sophomore attack Mallory Collins.

This game marks the 21st regular-season meeting between the Terriers and the Crimson. BU is currently 9-11 all-time against Harvard.

This season, Harvard struggled out of the gate, losing its first four games of the season. However, the Crimson have rebounded to win their last two contests by an average margin of nearly 10 goals. Harvard is ranked sixth out of eight teams in the Ivy League.

Harvard coach Lisa Miller, currently in her sixth season with the Crimson, has helped revive the lacrosse program during her tenure, guiding Harvard to a IWLCA ranking (No. 20) in 2011, the first time the program has been ranked since 1997.

The Crimson are led by senior midfielder Micaela Cyr, who has recorded 23 points (16 goals, seven assists) in six games this season. Harvard has featured a rotation at goalkeeper this season between sophomore Annie Meyjes and senior Mel Cook, but Meyjes has received the most playing time, starting four games and possessing a 13.66 goals-against average.

Scoring 10.17 goals per game, Harvard has a tough and effective unit on attack. BU coach Liz Robertshaw said she is well aware of her upcoming opponent’s bellicose play.

“They are an aggressive team that is looking for some wins,” Robertshaw said. “Harvard has some players that just go really hard to the net, and defensively we’re going to need to slow them down because of the hard chances that they take.

“I’ve gotten the chance to see them play a couple of times, and they are a driving team that likes to go hard to the net, keeps their feet moving and does a good job scoring some goals.”

The Terriers are currently on a two-game losing streak, dropping contests to both Boston College and UMBC (7-2, 1-0 America East). Etrasco has continued to be the leader on offense for the Terriers, scoring 19 points over her last three games. She is continuing her trend from last season, during which she scored 58 goals and put up 22 assists, good for 80 points and America East First Team All-Conference honors.

Senior defender Monica Baumgartner is likely sidelined for the game, as she suffered an injury during the first half of Saturday’s contest. Freshman defender Remy Nolan and redshirt freshman defender Lindy Firstenberg are expected to fill in during Baumgartner’s absence.

Going into their matchup against the Crimson, Robertshaw said the Terriers’ game plan involves matching Harvard’s intensity on attack and making better decisions on offense.

“From our standpoint, we really need to focus on our attack and combating [Harvard],” Robertshaw said. “We have to get better opportunities and get more looks at cage, so that’s what we’re going to try to do.

“We have to keep the same style of aggressive defense, but we also need to bring that aggressive play into our attacking end.”

While Robertshaw stressed improvement on offense as a big part of the Terriers’ plan against Harvard, she later said the biggest key to a Terrier victory Saturday is getting a complete performance from every player on the team.

“[The biggest key is] every single person being a threat on both sides of the field,” Robertshaw said. “That’s going to be it. If we can get out there and I can look in the eyes of every one of my players and they tell me that they believe they can make great things happen on the field, then good things are going to happen on the field.”