Want to know if you should take this year’s Boston University women’s lacrosse team seriously?
Just ask members of the University of North Carolina.
The Tar Heels entered last weekend’s game against the Terriers as the No. 4 team in the nation. They left with a humbling reminder that upsets can be all too common in the early part of a regular season.
Want to know if you should consider the Terriers one of the top Division I programs in the nation?
Just check the national rankings. Current national polls put the Terriers at No. 9 — the highest ranking since the program’s inception in 1980.
“It’s definitely a confidence-builder,” said senior attacker Chrissy Lombard. “It shows how hard everyone has worked to prove that we are that good and deserving of the position.”
In the Tar Heels matchup, there never seemed to be much doubt that the Terriers could pull off the upset. BU immediately jumped out to a 6-0 lead and carried an 8-2 lead at halftime. When it was all over, the Terriers had cruised to a 14-7 thrashing.
“I think we all came in with the idea that we had a really good chance, and we knew we had to play well,” Lombard said. “Coach [Sue Murphy] really prepared us well for everything that would be thrown at us.”
Amid the high points of Sunday’s upset was junior midfielder Kristin Abruzzese. The Medford, N.J., native tore through her first two games, scoring six goals and one assist. Against the Tar Heels, Abruzzese notched four of BU’s 14 goals.
“She’s always a presence on the field,” Lombard said. “She’s a great player. She really helped the team and set the tone for the rest of the team.”
The Terriers currently stand at 1-1. Before the North Carolina blowout, BU had dropped a tough 10-7 decision to James Madison University.
On Friday afternoon, the Terriers will travel to Temple University before taking on Ohio State University on Sunday. Then, BU heads into a five-game home stand at soon-to-be newly refurbished Nickerson Field to battle Dartmouth College, Drexel University, Vanderbilt University, the University of Vermont and Harvard University.
If the Terriers can continue the current trend, those opponents may have their hands full.
“I think people are going to take us more seriously now,” Lombard said.
“We have the heart and desire,” she added. “Everyone has the passion to play for each other and be the best team out there. Everyone’s very dedicated.”
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
