Most teams like to scrimmage before they begin the regular season to get the rust off before the games matter.
The Boston University women’s lacrosse team must not have felt like wasting the energy.
Ranked ninth in the country, BU headed south to Loyola, Md., where it defeated No. 4 University of North Carolina, 14-7, yesterday and lost to No. 7 James Madison University on Thursday.
“Starting out with this schedule is truly a challenge,” said BU coach Sue Murphy. “Overall it was a good trip.”
Junior midfielder Kristin Abruzzese paced the Terriers, scoring six goals — four against North Carolina — over the first two games and tallying one assist. Senior midfielder Kyle Rutkowski added five goals and one assist, also putting four in the back of the net against the Tar Heels.
The Terriers took the Tar Heels by storm, jumping out to a 6-0 lead en route to an 8-2 halftime score. While North Carolina made up some ground in the second half, BU was able to score the upset against the higher ranked team.
“Offensively, we just did a better job of landing our shots,” Murphy said. “I was pleased to see Kyle and Kristin score that many times.”
The strong performance against North Carolina offset the mild disappointment of a 10-7 loss to James Madison. That game saw BU struggle to find the back of the net, despite doing a good job keeping James Madison from doing so. Junior goalkeeper Brooke Barrett made 10 saves against the Dukes, and junior defense Gabby Juocys shut out their top player, forward Lisa Staedt.
As valuable as the win was for BU, the games were also important for Murphy to figure out how her team would fit together.
“We’re still experimenting with our strength off the bench,” Murphy said.
The coach likes what she has seen from her freshmen so far, especially attacker Polly Purcell. Purcell scored two goals and added one assist in the two games, and Murphy sees her as being an important cog in the Terrier machine.
The Terriers’ success sets the tone for a season where expectations are sky high. After last season’s success (15-4 overall, 6-0 America East), BU hopes to continue moving forward, led by Abruzzese, Rutkowski and senior attacker Chrissy Lombard.
“They said their goals at the beginning of the season are to win the America East regular season and conference tournament championships and to make it to the Final Four,” Murphy said.
It’s early, but Murphy likes what she’s seen so far.
“I should expect nothing less the rest of the season,” Murphy said.
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