The Boston University field hockey team traveled to Michigan this weekend hoping to find its scoring touch against two Top-25 teams in the University of Michigan and Ball State University.
After being shut out, 3-0, and held to three shots against the second-ranked Wolverines on Friday, the Terriers may have rediscovered their offense yesterday against the Cardinals.
Junior midfielder Celeste Hubbard scored two goals, leading BU (4-5) to a 3-2 victory over Ball State (4-3), which was ranked No. 23 in the country going into the game. It was only the second win in the last seven games for the Terriers.
Unlike previous games, where the Terriers have struggled initially, BU jumped out to a 2-0 lead against the Cardinals. Hubbard scored twice within a three-minute span to give BU a lead it would not relinquish. Those goals gave Hubbard a team-leading five on the season, four of which have come in the past three games. She also leads the team with 11 points.
Hubbard opened the scoring off a penalty corner 8:43 into the match. At this point, Hubbard had scored the team’s last three goals, all off penalty corners. The first goal was assisted by junior midfielder Lindsey Domers and sophomore back Meredith Long.
Three minutes later, Hubbard extended the BU lead with an unassisted goal, which eluded Ball State goalkeeper Susan McDowell.
The Terrier lead was cut in half with 4:48 remaining in the first half when the Cardinals’ Jen Strodel beat senior goalkeeper Susan Harrington to cap the first-half scoring.
The second half was a different story, as Ball State dominated the stat sheet, but could only score one goal. The Terriers were outshot, 15-3, and held without a penalty corner for the entire second half. For the game, BU was outshot, 22-12, while Ball State held an advantage on penalty corners, 12-5.
Two freshman forwards combined to score BU’s game-winner with 20:17 remaining. Former America East Rookie of the Week Caitlyn Cassara set up Natalie DiSabato, who notched her second goal of the season.
The freshmen’s work would be necessary as Ball State’s Jenn Budney scored with 9:02 left, but that was as close as the Cardinals could get. Harrington did not allow another goal, and the Terriers were able to return home with a victory.
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The trip got off to a bad start, as Michigan controlled play from start to finish en route to a 3-0 victory at the Ocker Field.
The game seemed to be a case of the Terriers simply losing to a better team. The defending national champions and second-ranked Wolverines improved their record to 9-1 with their eighth straight win.
Once again, the Terriers were taken out of the game offensively, particularly early on, as they managed only two shots in the first half.
Michigan’s top players proved to be too much for BU, as senior forward Molly Powers and junior forward April Fronzoni, the Wolverines’ leading scorers, tallied goals in the first half.
Powers put her ninth goal of the year past Harrington 5:16 into the game, unassisted, on a rebound off a penalty corner. It was all the scoring the Wolverines would need.
Eleven minutes later, Fronzoni scored her team-leading 10th goal in as many games on a pass from junior defender Kristi Gannon.
Adrienne Hortillosa scored the only goal of the second half 5:15 into the period.
Michigan’s sophomore goalkeeper Molly Maloney had perhaps the easiest shutout she will have in her career, as she did not have to make a save on any of BU’s three shots.
The results of the weekend were very similar to those two weeks ago when the team traveled to Maryland for the Terrapin Classic. In Maryland, the Terriers were shut out by the Terrapins, the top team in the country, but they defeated American University, a team BU expected to beat.
This weekend’s 3-2 victory marks the second-highest scoring output for BU this season. The team hopes to show that the three goals is the start of a scoring trend, rather than a one-game anomaly, on Saturday in New Haven, Conn., when the Terriers take on Yale University.