Whoever said that the best offense is a good defense must not have seen the Boston University women’s lacrosse team play recently.
In reality it was the Terriers’ attack that propelled their defense on Saturday, as BU kept the ball in their offensive zone at will and never looked back, going on to crush George Mason University, 13-6, in their home opener at Nickerson Field.
And for the Terriers, it was an offensive explosion that was a long time coming. Their 13 goals were just two less than they had scored in their previous two games combined.
“I’ve been expecting it all year — I think we could’ve scored more goals,” said BU coach Liza Kelly. “I think we have an attack that is really capable of putting the ball in the back of the net, and I think they’ve kind of been shying away from doing it a little bit. Something that we’ve really worked on practice the last few days is just scoring.”
Lindsay Lewis got the party started with three goals in less than two minutes early in the first half, sparking a Terrier attack that netted nine goals in the first period of play.
But Lewis was far from alone. Four minutes after the senior midfielder completed her hat trick it was Mary Beth Miller’s turn, as the senior attacker scored two straight goals to make it five unanswered for the Terriers.
When all was said and done, six different Terriers had found their way onto the score sheet, capping off the team’s second-biggest offensive outburst of the year — one that the team desperately needed after scoring only in single digits in their previous two games against the University of North Carolina and Hofstra University.
“I think we needed to take probably a little bit more shots and we needed to probably get a couple more goals in, but 13’s a good start,” Lewis said. “And especially with them only scoring six, it shows that our defense is strong today.”
Much of that defensive strength fed off the fact that the Terriers dominated possession time in the game, spending long stretches pressuring freshman goalie Roxie Alsruhe without ever slipping back over midfield. BU outshot the Patriots, 30-12 in the game, peppering the George Mason net with 18 shots in the first half and allowing the Patriots to counter with only four of their own in the second.
And because George Mason was rarely in the BU defensive zone, when they did find their way past midfield, the Terriers were ready.
“I think that the defense will take more chances when they know that the attack is playing well, and that there’s no doubt if I get you the ball you’re going to put it in the back of the net,” Kelly said. “I think they both help each other out.”
Perhaps even more encouraging for the Terriers was that even while sophomore phenom Jenny Hauser (who eventually tacked four goals onto the BU attack) was silenced by the Patriot defense for much of the first half, the Terriers proved that they could win with goals from other sources.
“I think that we still need people besides Lindsay and Jenny scoring goals,” Kelly said. “In my opinion, as an attacker you should have at least two points in every game, and I think that we haven’t seen that enough from people.”
But Kelly certainly saw it on Saturday, as all six Terrier goal-scorers notched at least two points, and four of the six (Hauser, Lewis, Miller and Lauren Morton) had multiple-goal games. The performances more than made up for an offense that had been extremely dependent upon the play of Hauser and Lewis, and was key in easing the load of a defense that had been in need of some help.
And if it’s any indication of things to come, the Terriers are well on their way to turning a disappointing start to the season around.
