The No. 12 Boston University women’s lacrosse team beat the high-scoring University of Massachusetts-Amherst yesterday, 10-8, behind a strong defensive effort and 10 saves from senior goalkeeper Rachel Klein.
The Minutewomen (2-2), who have scored 30 points total in victories over the College of the Holy Cross and the University of Connecticut, were stifled by a Terrier (1-0) squad that allowed just 22 attempts on goal.
“[The Minutewomen] have scored a lot of points the past three games,” said BU coach Liz Robertshaw. “They’ve gotten to work on their shooting. They’ve gotten to work out some of the things they needed to tweak on their attack and defense. They’ve gotten to see what works and what doesn’t. That was our game today.”
Senior captain Traci Landy led BU with four goals.
“[Landy] was definitely a leader on the attack end,” Robertshaw said. When we needed goals, Landy was there. When things were starting to get tight, she took the ball and made that safety goal, making it 10-8 with only four minutes left.”
Landy, along with co-captains McKinley Curro, Klein and Jenny Martin, returns to a veteran squad that boasts nine seniors and 18 returning players.
“Having veterans come back really instills a lot of confidence in the entire team. It also allows the younger players to go out and make some mistakes, because they are going to, and say “Hey, we got your back and it will be OK,'” Robertshaw said.
Freshman Danielle Estrasco added a youthful spark with three goals and one assist to round out the effort.
“Having Danielle score that first goal really set the tone and it was great for us,” Robertshaw said. “She showed some strength and confidence, and was really comfortable out there on the attacking end. So for her first game, scoring three goals, I think, is great.”
“We did some great things on the defensive end,” Robertshaw said. “I thought we did a good job of holding UMass, a really solid team, to eight goals this game. Not allowing UMass for the first half to score a lot of goals was a very good deal. That was something that our defensive unit did a great job of stopping because when a team is on a run it is hard to slow them down.”