Losers of three of their last four games, members of the Boston University field hockey team are hoping that today’s game at UMass-Amherst will be the end of the early-season troubles they have faced thus far.
The Terriers (1-3) head into the game against the Minutewomen (0-5) at Richard F. Garber field looking for their first victory in almost two weeks. The game comes three days after a disappointing 1-0 loss to rival Boston College.
“The mindset going into this game is that we just need to play to our potential and win,” said BU coach Sally Starr. “We need to play competitively for 70 minutes.”
Though the Terriers’ record may not be very impressive, the squad brought the game against the University of California to double overtime and held off BC’s lone goal until there were fewer than nine minutes to play in the game.
Starr said she believes the team is better than its record indicates.
“The level of competition we’ve been playing is really tough,” Starr said. “We have not been losing to average teams. These are teams that are ranked in the top 15 of the nation.
“Our losses have been quality losses,” she added.
Starr said she believes her young team, with 10 freshmen on the roster, will continue to improve as the season progresses.
“We’re a young team and we’re going to continue to get better,” she said. “We’re developing into a good team.”
And even with only one win to her team’s credit, Starr said there should be more around the corner.
“I really feel that we are now in a place where we are going to win,” she said. “We should win these games that are coming up.”
The Terriers problems do not stem from defense. The team has allowed only seven goals on 79 attempts, while its opponents have an average of 1.61 goals scored per game.
Much of this can be attributed to sophomore Erin Prediger, who leads the America East in saves per game at 9.75 per contest and is third in the conference in goals against average. She made nine saves in Sunday’s game against BC.
On the other side of the ball are where the problems lie. The team is averaging only 7.8 shots per game, compared to 19.8 shot attempts for their opponents.
“We need to be better at possessing the ball,” Starr said. “We need to be very good at getting the ball and keeping the ball.”
In four games, the Terriers have scored only four goals on 31 attempts. But with a .129 shot percentage, compared to the 0.89 shot percentage of their competitors, it’s only creating shots – not finishing them – that has proved to be the problem for BU.
“We need to have better decision-making in our passing so that we can keep the ball in our attack zone,” Starr said.
At this point last year, the Terriers had a record of 3-2. They finished the season 9-11 with an America East record of 3-3. The Terriers, who were voted to finish third in the conference, are not expecting a repeat performance.
“We just need to have confidence in ourselves because we’ve been getting better every game,” Starr said.
Starr was quick to disagree with the idea that the team’s games against current competitors are any less important than games against conference opponents.
“We only have 20 games a year,” she said. “You work hard all year for that. Every game has importance, and UMass has a regional importance.”