If there was ever a time for the Boston University field hockey team to rebound from its worst loss in nearly three years, this weekend would be it.
Coming off a 6-0 lashing at the hands of the University of Connecticut Wednesday afternoon, the Terriers travel to the University at Albany in a matchup of America East powers Saturday afternoon in their final away game of the season. Albany is the only remaining undefeated team in the conference-and the Terriers would love to change that this weekend.
Sunday, BU travels home to take on a 3-9 Dartmouth University squad in a non-conference game.
“The biggest thing is for us to take care of ourselves emotionally,” said BU coach Sally Starr. “We need to be focused, determined and positive, not only in our own outlook but in how we deal with our teammates as well.”
After last weekend’s double-overtime loss to the University of Vermont, the Terriers need to beat Albany and hope for a UVM loss in order for BU to host the America East Tournament at Jack Barry Field.
If they lose, they will be hitting the road for the conference tournament-something they haven’t done since the 2003 season.
Albany will be one of the toughest tests of the season for BU. With the Danes sporting a strong 11-5 record (3-0 in America East), the Terriers will need to bring their ‘A’ game and play to their capabilities to take out their conference foe.
Albany brings a balanced attack to the field, and BU will have to look out for freshman midfielder and leading scorer Michelle Simpson. Simpson has posted 14 goals and seven assists on the season thus far.
“They are well-coached and have very good attacking players,” Starr said. “They are fast, dangerous with the ball, skilled and they have good corners.
“I really feel that if we come out to play and play with energy and ability we can be successful,” she added. “We have to make sure to take care of them for 70 minutes.”
Albany, however, is coming off a 6-0 loss of their own to No. 1 University of Maryland this past Sunday. But they have had a full week of practice to regroup and prepare for the BU attack.
Bouncing back after its tough loss Wednesday will be part of the challenge for BU.
“The intangibles are as important as anything this weekend,” Starr said. “We need to be excited, we need to be determined and we need to be courageous to do everything we have to do to win.”
Sunday, the team returns home to kick off the final homestand of the season with its last three games.
Dartmouth is a very similar team to the Yale club that the Terriers disposed handily last weekend with a 6-1 win. The Big Green is having a rough season, sporting an abysmal record and sitting in seventh place in the Ivy League. Only Cornell has posted a worse conference record than Dartmouth this season.
Despite the statistics, the Terriers refuse to take any opponent lightly.
“They’re a team we have to respect and come out ready to play,” Starr said. “We have to take care of ourselves and if we do that, then we can be successful.”
Dartmouth is coming off a 4-2 loss to the University of Vermont Wednesday and will take on Columbia University this Saturday in an Ivy League match up.
This is the second weekend in a row that BU has played a non-conference game after taking on a conference foe the day before. During this current stretch of seven games in 15 days, the Terriers don’t see the non-conference games as a burden.
“I think right now we’re in a period of the season where the girls just want to be playing,” Starr said. “It’s fun to play games and it’s fun to play home games.”
The keys to success this weekend for the Terriers lie in their ability to maintain consistency from one game to the next. Over the past four games BU has blown two teams out, played a double-overtime game and gotten blown out themselves. Finding the happy medium will be vital this weekend.