Nobody ever said winning a championship is easy, even for a team that did not suffer a single conference loss this year.
It took overtime to decide the America East women’s lacrosse champion yesterday at Nickerson Field, as the No. 8 Boston University overcame a first-half deficit and the injury of senior co-captain Molly Collins to defeat the No. 14 University of New Hampshire, 9-8, and win its fourth straight conference championship.
After the Terriers (16-2, 8-0 AE) took care of the University at Albany in the opening round of the conference tournament Friday, a rematch with the Wildcats (13-7, 5-3) produced a thrilling contest between the America East powers. A goal from sophomore Traci Landy with 10 seconds remaining in regulation was disallowed for an illegal stick, sending the game into overtime, during which BU struck first and held on to stretch its winning streak to 13 games.
“A lot of people would have liked it to not be as close,” said BU coach Liz Robertshaw. “The ability of this team to be down at halftime, come back and be leading, and have composure on that last play and know they could get the goals they needed to win was huge.”
The Terriers and Wildcats battled to the finish two weeks ago, as BU clamped down with a strong defensive stand on the game’s last possession to squeak out a 7-6 victory.
Yesterday’s matchup was a worthy sequel, with fierce defense and strong goaltending from both teams keeping the game close, with momentum shifting from one side to the other.
Collins was blindsided by a Wildcat early in the first half and spent the rest of the game on the sideline cheering on her teammates. In an attempt to duck away from a UNH defender, Collins turned directly into another player running full-speed in her direction. With her star defender shaken from the collision and having trouble breathing, Robertshaw said the coaching staff had to keep Collins off the field.
Fellow senior co-captain Lauren Morton had a spectacular game in Collins’s absence, scoring three goals while controlling the offense and settling down her teammates. Junior Sarah Dalton and sophomore Traci Landy registered a hat trick apiece, while redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Rachel Klein had six of her nine saves in the first half to keep BU within striking distance.
The Terriers found themselves in an early hole for just the third time this season, allowing UNH to notch the first two goals of the game. The conference’s highest-scoring team couldn’t solve the Wildcats’ suffocating defensive pressure, as it took more than 16 minutes for BU to post its first goal.
Down 4-2 toward the end of the first half with the momentum clearly in UNH’s favor, the Terriers looked to their captain for a spark. Morton took a sharp pass from sophomore Xan Weitzel and fired it over UNH senior goalie Ashley Milley’s shoulder to cut the lead in half.
“[Morton] was an absolute leader today,” Robertshaw said. “It’s something she’s done all year long, leading this team, and today it showed up. She scored big goals when we needed them. She got the draw controls when we needed them and some huge caused turnovers. She really calmed down the entire team and that was something that was needed today.”
BU went into halftime trailing by a goal, but the team that took the field to start the second half played with an energy and attitude that was missing earlier. Morton put in her second goal of the game less than a minute in to tie it up, then forced a turnover that led to Landy sending a side-armed shot past Milley to give the Terriers their first lead.
Robertshaw said she reminded her team to calm down during halftime, but it was the words of one upperclassmen that seemed to inspire the Terriers.
“Before I walked over there, I heard [Dalton] saying, ‘Guys, we’re fine. Let’s have fun. Let’s enjoy this,'” Robertshaw said. “It was about getting them to loosen up, relax and play our game. That’s why we came out and scored two quick goals, because they knew they could do it.”
The defense pressured UNH into repeatedly making mistakes in the second half, giving BU a chance to score in the closing seconds of regulation. Landy charged toward the net and scored what appeared to be the game-winning goal, but a referee checked her stick and called it illegal, erasing the Terriers’ lead and quieting the crowd.
Landy earned redemption in overtime when she scored to give the Terriers an 8-7 lead. Each team added a goal before Klein made her biggest save of the season, stopping junior Michaela Hardy’s shot with 40 seconds remaining to ice the win.
The Terriers will face Sacred Heart University in an NCAA Tournament Play-In Game this Saturday. Before then, they get to celebrate a hard-fought victory and a conference championship.