The Boston University lacrosse team will look to erase the memory of a lopsided loss to rival Boston College when it returns to conference play this Saturday at 1 p.m. against Stony Brook University at Nickerson Field.
The Terriers’ (7-7, 3-0 America East) 18-11 loss to the Eagles on Wednesday was the first time BU had lost to BC in five years. The defeat also stonewalled a potential winning streak &- the Terriers had won two straight coming into the matchup. They’ll try to regain some of that fire against Stony Brook.
The Sea Wolves (3-10, 1-3 AE) have struggled this season and enter Saturday’s contest on a two-game losing streak with those two losses coming against conference foes University at Albany and the University of New Hampshire.
“They are fast, and they are aggressive,” said BU coach Liz Robertshaw. “They go to cage hard, and that is something we watched film on, in their game against UNH and their game against Albany. They went to the cage a lot. They like to push the fast break. They have a couple of players that are really taking it to the goal well, and that is something we’ve got to do a better job defensively at slowing down the attack.
“We have to do a better defensive job of making stops. We cannot allow teams to go down there and simply score goals. We have to make stops and give our attackers the opportunity to have the ball on their sticks.”
The Terriers have three games left in the regular season to make those defensive stops, all of which are against conference opponents.
Saturday’s contest comes at a most opportune time for the Terriers. BU is tied for first in the AE with Albany and playing a struggling Sea Wolves’ team on Saturday and an equally flawed University of Vermont squad on April 24 should give the Terriers momentum and confidence heading into the playoffs.
While it is easy to look past Stony Brook and Vermont, Robertshaw said she and her team are taking it one game at a time.
“They would like nothing more than to come in here and pull out a win, and for us, that’s exactly the mentality that every conference opponent has when they play us,” Robertshaw said. “Right now, we’re ahead of the conference standings so we have a target on our backs.”
The Sea Wolves rank last in the conference in goals, shots, turnovers and draw controls. In lacrosse, the team who wins the majority of the draws has a significant advantage in the contest. The significance increases tenfold in the women’s game because its less aggressive style of play makes it harder for any defense to regain possession after a lost draw control. Consequently, the Sea Wolves’ struggle to win draws affects the number of shots they get on cage and the number of goals they score.
Saturday will mark the first time the Terriers have faced an AE opponent at home since their game against UNH on April 7. Senior goalie Rachel Klein was the star of the game, making 15 saves in a 10-4 win.
The Terriers’ defense, anchored by senior midfielder Jenny Martin, junior midfielder Corcoran Downey and Klein, should be able to hold the struggling Sea Wolves’ offense at bay while BU senior captains Traci Landy and McKinley Curro take over offensively.
“We have to focus on every single game, and when we don’t, we have not been successful,” Robertshaw said. “I think that is something this team has learned the hard way, which is unfortunate, but it is what it is. Going into this game we put the BC game behind us. We haven’t talked about it. We’re over it.”
