The Boston University women’s lacrosse team extended its winning streak to five games with wins over Brown University and the University at Albany this past weekend.
With the weekend sweep, BU improved its record to 7-4 (2-0 America East) and scored its first road win of the season.
The women went into Sunday’s game at Brown with a 1-9 all-time record against the Ivy League squad.
‘We would like to continue the streak and we would really like to win one on the road,’ Head Coach Liza Shoemaker said before the game. BU did just that with a 10-8 victory, thanks to some big points from sophomore midfielder Alyssa Trudel.
Trudel scored her 100th career point in the victory on a free position goal, becoming just the eighth player in BU history to accomplish the milestone. The Vermont native entered the game with 97 career points, and tallied five more on the day. She is the conference’s leading scorer with 44 points on the season.
It was a back and forth game for BU, which had blown out its last few opponents. The Bears jumped out to a three-goal lead early, but BU came back to tie the score at the half. In the second half, BU pulled ahead 6-4, but Brown wouldn’t back down. After falling behind 7-6 late in the half, BU used a goal from Trudel to tie the game at seven. Freshman midfielder Lindsay Lewis scored the go-ahead goal with 3:55 left in the game, and Trudel added an insurance goal with a minute left to play.
The freshmen continued their strong play for BU. Lewis finished up with three goals, while fellow rookies Mary Beth Miller and Keely Anderson, along with junior Kylie Wagenet added four, one and one points respectively.
Sunday’s victory against Brown came on the heels of a conference victory on Friday against Albany. Playing in the pouring rain at Nickerson Field, BU dominated the action in a convincing 20-0 win.
With the victory, BU extended its winning streak to five games; the longest streak since 2000. It was the second straight conference win for BU.
‘Conference games help the momentum,’ Shoemaker said.
BU recorded its first shutout of the season in the victory. Sophomore goaltender Anne Sheridan was uncontested during her stint in net, and junior Lauren Beatty faced only one shot. She did, however, have to handle a flurry of Albany activity in front of the net at the end of the game.
The goaltenders’ job was made a lot easier by a BU defense that stifled Albany all day.
‘Defensively, they really stepped up,’ Shoemaker said. ‘I thought they did a nice job of pressuring the cutters in the midfield. They really denied the passes.’
After being named America East Player of the Week, Trudel got her weekend off to a good start with a seven-point effort in the victory. She scored two goals and recorded five assists.
BU jumped to a 12-0 lead at the half and never looked back, with a number of players fueling the offense. Lewis, Miller and Wagenet led the way with four goals each, while freshman midfielder Kaitlyn Cuneo joined Trudel with two, and freshman Danica Strutt, junior Sasha Lang, and seniors Briana Smith and Tiffany Mullan recorded one goal in the victory.
BU had another good day on the draws with a 17-5 advantage. They also controlled caused turnovers (6-5), ground balls (30-8) and shots (42-2). Shoemaker wasn’t too thrilled with the quality of the shots taken, but she acknowledged the weather played a part.
‘It’s also hard when it’s this wet and this cold outside to be as accurate as you’d want to be.
‘Six out of our 10 games have been in the rain,’ Shoemaker said. ‘Now granted we’re 6-4, so that’s saying something, but it’s been hard. It takes a toll; you’re afraid for injuries, you don’t want anyone out there for too long.’
Hopefully the weather will improve Wednesday when BU returns to Nickerson field. The team will be looking to keep the winning streak alive when the University of Connecticut comes to town for a non-conference battle.