There’s no place like home.
The No. 19 Boston University women’s lacrosse team (8-5, 3-1 America East) returned “home” yesterday to play a non-conference game against the University of Connecticut at Boston College’s Alumni Field.
At first, the game appeared as if it was going to be another low-scoring grudge match. Junior attacker Katie Nordhoff and senior defender Renee Vanderbrug scored a goal apiece in the first half giving BU a 2-1 advantage at the break.
Junior defender Gabby Juocys tallied the first goal of the second half to pull the Terriers ahead, 3-1, before the Huskies knotted the affair at three with just over 23 minutes remaining in the game.
And then all hell broke loose.
BU went on a relentless scoring binge, running off 10 unanswered goals. The Terriers were led by freshman attacker Polly Purcell who tallied three goals and an assist for the day.
Senior attacker Chrissy Lombard and junior midfielder Kristin Abruzzese also managed to find the Husky net twice and recorded an assist each.
Senior attacker Rachel Lieber and senior midfielder Kyle Rutkowski also found the scoreboard during the 10-0 barrage. Vanderbrug added an additional goal in the final half as well.
Getting off to a slow start is nothing new to the Terriers. Yesterday, however, was different. Instead of keeping their play consistent throughout the game, BU managed to kick it up another notch in the second half en route to the 13-3 win.
The Terriers managed to turn its defense into offense. BU forced 19 of the Huskies’ 26 turnovers. The Terriers outshot Connecticut, 36-15, for the day. Junior goalkeeper Brooke Barrett turned six Connecticut shots away, anchoring the Terrier backfield, while freshman midfielder Liz Eberhart also helped BU stifle any chance for a Connecticut comeback.
It will be interesting to see how BU reacts in its next game against Syracuse University. The last time the Terriers riddled the opposing net so vigorously was against Towson University. BU lost the next game to conference-leading University of Delaware.
The same can be said for the back-to-back games against the University of Vermont and Harvard University earlier in the season. The Terriers set a goal scoring record and pounded the Catamounts, 23-1, only to lose to the Crimson two days later.
But to see an offense, which has been rather stagnant lately, explode for 10 unanswered goals must be encouraging. With the America East playoffs just around the corner, the last four games could be crucial.
Two of the Terriers’ last four games are against conference teams, the University of New Hampshire and Hofstra University. Both squads are ahead of BU in the conference standings. Both games are away games for BU. The season finale, against Hofstra, could be the deciding game for the conference championship.
BU will honor its senior players in the Terriers’ final home game of the season Saturday at Babson College.
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