Field hockey anticipating heated contest against Boston College

The Boston University field hockey team will continue its crosstown rivalry with Boston College when it faces off against its Chestnut Hill neighbor Friday night.

After the Terriers (2-2) hosted last year’s affair, the battle moves to No. 15 BC’s (3-1) home turf. The match will serve as the Eagles’ second home game of the season.

“It’s exciting. BC-BU is always an exciting hockey game,” said BU coach Sally Starr. “It’s always a well-played, hard-fought game, and that’s what I’m anticipating this Friday night.

“They’re a very good team. It’s a team that we really respect, and it’s a team that we really look forward to playing against because they are so good.”

In their past five meetings, the teams have swapped wins and losses each year. Four of the last five battles have resulted in one-goal games, the only exception being BU’s 2-0 win over the Eagles in 2010.

“We’re both two very good teams with very good programs, and the matchup just brings out the best in both teams,” Starr said.

Last season, the Eagles and the Terriers were relatively even in scoring chances, with the Eagles holding a 16-11 advantage in shots.

“We had lots of good scoring opportunities. They had lots of good scoring opportunities, and it was an up-and-down type of game,” Starr said. “[It was] very fast paced with a lot of attack by both teams, and then well-played defensively, and I think that’s really what we’re going to see again [Friday] night.”

BC ended up taking a 1-0 victory after midfielder Emma Plasteras scored the game’s only goal off a corner in the 61st minute of play. Plasteras was the Eagles’ leading scorer last year with 34 points on 11 goals and 12 assists.

Twin sisters and sophomores Emily and Eryn McCoy were second and third on the team in points last season, registering 22 and 18, respectively, while combining for 17 goals between them.

So far this year, though, sophomore Brittany Sheenan is leading the pack with five goals on just seven shots through four games, good for 10 points and a .714 shooting percentage.

Starr said she knows all about the success and offensive prowess of the Eagles’ ranked squad, but notes that it’s the entire roster, rather than any particular player, that her team has to look out for.

“BC’s a team that’s solid in every position,” Starr said. “They have very aggressive attacking strikers, the midfielders are very skilled, their backs are good two-way players, they’re very attacking defenders as well as very good defending defenders and goalkeeping is a strength for them as well.”

It will be interesting to see how BC goalkeeper Leah Settipane matches up against her senior counterpart in Valentina Cerda Eimbcke.

Last year against the Eagles, Eimbcke impressed with nine saves — eight of which came in the first half — and one goal against, but it was Settipane who walked away with the win on an eight-save shutout.

“They have two outstanding goalies, and when I look at my team, I feel pretty similar,” Starr said. “I think we have some very good strikers, our midfield line can be very dangerous, and our backs can be very attacking as well as very good defending type players and goaltending.”

One area BC has excelled at recently is earning penalty corners, earning 31 to opponents’ 17 while BU has been out-cornered 24-21 this year. One thing Starr wanted to work on last week was keeping the number of penalty corners her Terriers gave up as low as possible.

Though BC’s numbers are high, their conversion rate isn’t all that different from BU’s, something that Starr has been working on with her team along with transitional defense and the Terriers’ passing game.

“We’re in an early part of our season,” she said. “It’s all about learning and growing after each competitive opportunity, and that’s pretty much what we’re trying to do right now.”