This is what the Boston University women’s lacrosse team has been waiting for. If they could make any excuse for losing to unranked teams this season, they might be able to get away with saying it was because the excitement wasn’t there.
That won’t be the case Sunday because the No. 3 team in the country is coming to Nickerson Field in the form of Georgetown University — for what is sure to be the first of many exceptional teams visiting BU’s Astroturf in April and May.
The Hoyas are the second of three nationally ranked teams the No. 13/15 Terriers will face this season and — at the No. 3/3 spot — their stiffest competition yet. Georgetown (8-1, 2-0 Big East) enters the weekend on a four-game winning streak, the last two victories coming in overtime. Aside from keeping their own streak alive, the Hoyas will be looking to put an end to BU’s 17-game home unbeaten streak.
In BU’s most recent game, they bested Harvard University in Cambridge, 11-8.
“I think we took it as a win, and it was nice to get a win, but I think we know we could have played a lot better,” said BU coach Liza Kelly. “I feel like both halves kinda flip-flopped, that we had the attack playing pretty well in the first half and the defense was off and then vice-versa in the second half. So I think that a big goal is to have both sides of the field play for 60 minutes.”
Georgetown and BU (7-3, 1-1 America East) have played 120 minutes against two like opponents to this point in the season. The Hoyas defeated both the University of North Carolina, 11-10 in overtime, and the College of William ‘ Mary, 13-3, this season while the Terriers snuck past UNC, 7-6, and lost to William ‘ Mary, 12-10.
“I think that we definitely try to get those strong teams on the schedule. It’s a hard concept,” Kelly said. “I think sometimes your strength of schedule can help you or hurt you. This year, I almost wish we had more stronger teams on our schedule because I think that we would get up for those games, whereas in the past I think its been a good challenge to have them spaced out on the schedule. So I hope the team is up for it and ready to compete on Sunday.”
Sunday is one of the key words for this game, as the Terriers will be getting out of their usual routine — a Wednesday game followed by a Saturday game.
“We actually gave the girls off today,” Kelly said. “I think they’re just a little bit beat up and with finals and everything going on, we wanted them to kinda just take the day and focus on themselves and come back ready for Friday and Saturday’s practice. We’re fresh and ready to go, so hopefully giving them the day off kinda solved that. I think that we definitely have a consistent schedule so something like this shouldn’t really affect them.”
What might be affecting the Terriers — now that they’ve played 10 games — is fatigue.
“I think, always, that’s an issue you have to keep in mind,” Kelly said. “I don’t think we’ve had a game that we were really running the way I think we’re capable of. And after Georgetown, we do have a stretch where we can get our legs back underneath us.”
An X-factor for Sunday’s match-up will be the play of sophomore goalkeeper Jenna Golden, who has been off and on for the Terriers in their last few games.
“I think that she really had a good second half [against Harvard]. I think that for Jenna, she needs to gain some confidence sometimes,” Kelly said. “I think toward the end of the first half she wasn’t making the saves but then she’d come up with a great interception, and I think that just doing something like that outside the cage can build her confidence for making the saves inside the cage.”
The Hoya attack features junior attacker Coco Stanwick who has 32 goals on the season — only two less than BU’s leading goal scorer, sophomore attacker Jenny Hauser. In addition to Stanwick, who scored 59 times for the Hoyas last season, Georgetown posts five other scorers in double figures, but only one with more than 10 goals — senior midfielder Lucy Poole, who has 19. All of the Hoya players, however, have faced six ranked teams this year and should be more than ready to face a hungry BU squad.
“We’re definitely excited,” Kelly said about the opportunity to face Georgetown. “I think we really only have three top 10 teams on our schedule. I think that we proved we can play with UNC. And it’s on our homefield, so I think that Georgetown will be a great challenge for us and we’re all very excited.”