The No. 8 Boston University women’s lacrosse team (6-2, 2-0 America East) is coming off its most dominating performance in school history.
BU dismantled the University of Vermont, 23-1, Saturday at Boston College’s Alumni Field and set a new record for goals in a game.
“I never had any intention of running up the score,” said BU coach Sue Murphy after the game. “I knew player-to-player we were the better team.”
Freshman attacker Polly Purcell has been a huge bright spot for the Terriers this season. Purcell has 27 points thus far on 14 goals and 13 assists. She was named the America East Rookie of the Week two weeks ago and will surely be considered as a candidate for last weekend. In the Vermont game alone, Purcell was unstoppable, tallying four goals and five assists.
“I was thrilled [with the way Purcell played],” Murphy said after Saturday’s drubbing.
All-American senior attacker Chrissy Lombard has been a steady goal-producer this year as well. She leads the team in goals (25) and points (28). Lombard, who has been the America East Player of the Year for the past two seasons, netted five goals against the Catamounts and has scored at least two goals in every game this season.
Despite the offensive outburst BU has displayed in its last three games, the impressive statistic may deal with how stifling the defense has been. The Terriers have outshot their opponents, 136-26, and outscored them, 50-9, in their last three games.
Murphy implemented a new defense before the Vermont game that will hopefully be more suffocating and cause even more turnovers. The Terriers are currently ranked third nationally in forcing turnovers.
The ongoing theme this year has been the lack of a home field to play on and practice on in between games. Because of continuing renovations to Nickerson Field, the Terriers have been forced to play at three different neutral sites and deal with numerous scheduling conflicts. As of now, the Terriers aren’t expected to return home until the America East tournament in May.
BU’s next contest against Harvard University was originally scheduled as a home game for the Terriers. Instead, they will once again board team busses — the Crimson swapped so next year’s game against BU, which was originally scheduled for Harvard’s Jordan Field, will be at the Nick.
“In a way, I feel more comfortable playing away from home, where we know we have a field to play on,” Murphy said.
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