Following its tough-to-swallow 13-12 loss against No. 19 Johns Hopkins University, the Boston University women’s lacrosse team needed to put the loss behind it when it went up against Bucknell University Saturday at Nickerson Field.
The Terriers (3-4, 2-0 Patriot League) only then responded with their best overall performance of the season, dismantling the Bison (6-3, 0-1 Patriot League) 17-7.
Going into its matchup with the Terriers, Bucknell was a force to be reckoned with offensively, with star duo Eve Lukowski and Maddy Molinari’s combined 43 goals representing the backbone of this Bison squad.
However, BU’s defense was stifling Saturday, limiting Bucknell’s two-leading scorers to just one goal and one assist altogether.
“We really tried to shut off some of their key players,” BU head coach Liz Robertshaw said. “We looked for both [junior defenseman] Charlotte Castronovo and [senior defenseman] Sofia Robins to do that, and I think they did. They allowed the other defenders to be aggressive in terms of doubling or slowing the ball down, and because we had the ball more than they did, I thought we could be a little more aggressive defensively and give our attackers more opportunities at cage.”
BU scored just 82 seconds into the game off of a free position goal from senior midfielder Ally Adams, and the rout was set to begin.
Three more Terrier goals, including the first of senior attack Jill Horka’s hat trick, but midfielder Mary Margaret Kenney scored with 18:27 left in the half to narrow the deficit to 4-1. BU then responded with its own 5-1 run to close the half with a dominant 9-2 lead, outshooting Bucknell 28-8.
Contrary to the lopsided score, if it weren’t for a combined eight saves from the goalkeeping duo of junior Caroline Meegan and sophomore Christine Laible, the storyline could’ve completely shifted in favor of Bucknell.
“She did a great job of just seeing the ball,” Robertshaw said. “She knew that she would see some shots up close, that Bucknell wasn’t a far-out shooting team. They were more [passing] the ball inside and had those little inside shots. I think we prepared her for it, and she did well.”
The second half was a more back-and-forth affair between the two sides. Bucknell scored first off a tally from midfielder Gretchen Richter to cut into BU’s lead. The away side bested Meegan four more times in the half, but the Terriers’ lead was never truly threatened.
Horka scored twice more to complete her hat trick, and five BU players did the double to help the home side complete its shellacking of the Bison.
“I was excited about the number of looks we got and how aggressive they were at cage,” Robertshaw said. “I’m not going to lie to you, our shooting percentage could’ve been a little bit better, and that’s something we’re going to work in the course of the next couple days before Vanderbilt [University]. But I loved the scoring looks. They were hard-nosed, always looking to shoot the ball, never were gun shy, and that’s what we’re looking for from attackers.”
On that very same Nickerson Field in early February, the Terriers had just been dealt a demoralizing 18-9 defeat at the hands of then-No. 9 Boston College, losing many important statistical categories.
Fast forward into mid-March, and BU, like Robertshaw pointed out to her team in the pregame warm-up against Bucknell, is a much different group than it was at the start of the season.
“We work harder, we believe in ourselves more and we play more as a unit,” Robertshaw said. “I felt like when we played against Boston College, we believed we could win, but we didn’t back it up with our work ethic. I challenged them in today’s game to bring both the belief that they could win it and make sure you do what it takes to get it done, and the team just really bought and has done a great job since that first game.”
