Though it will be its third game in five days, the Boston University field hockey team should have no trouble getting itself revved-up for today’s dogfight against the University of Connecticut.
It was a 2-0 loss to Connecticut just over a year ago that sent last season’s Terrier squad into a 1-5 tailspin to finish the year. This year, the two teams enter the match with almost identical records and with both playing at the top of their games.
“I’m anticipating a total war,” BU Coach Sally Starr said. “They’re a well-coached, aggressive team that plays with a fast-paced style.”
The Huskies (8-6) certainly have been putting up big numbers recently, averaging more than four goals per game over their last six contests. The team had been on a seven-game winning streak until Oct. 12, when they were defeated, 4-3, by Princeton University in overtime. But the team bounced back with an emphatic 5-0 win over Rutgers University on Saturday.
The Terriers (9-6) have followed a similar path to this point in the season. After having a five-game win streak snapped at the University of New Hampshire on Friday, the Terriers answered with a 1-0 win on Sunday against the University of California at Berkeley.
The big task ahead of BU will be to contain Connecticut’s most explosive scorer, sophomore Lauren Henderson, who has 15 goals in 14 games. Another threat is senior playmaker Kelly Cochrane, who has 13 assists in 14 games.
“We have to sustain play for 70 minutes at a very high tempo,” Starr said. “We have to do what we did on Sunday, not what we did on Friday, simply put.”
Starr is not worried about fatigue, even though the team has played three games over the last five days.
“I think our fitness has been really good,” she said. “We had a really light workout today. It’s the back-to-back games that are much more difficult, so we should be fine.”
Though the Huskies have been a more prolific scoring team, it can be argued the Terriers have a more balanced attack. Connecticut gets over 40 percent of its scoring from Henderson, while BU has six players with two or more goals.
Defensively, the Terriers appear to have a slight edge. They are allowing just 1.2 goals per game compared to the 1.4 the Huskies are giving up. Senior goalkeeper Susan Harrington has been strong in net throughout the season for the Terriers.
There isn’t much separating these two teams, which should make for a hard-fought, hotly contested game this afternoon at MIT’s Jack Barry Field.
