While the men’s basketball and ice hockey teams were busy dropping tough postseason games this weekend, the Boston University women’s lacrosse team fell to a strong Ohio State University team Saturday in New Jersey.
The Terriers (1-2) were caught off guard by a quick start from the Buckeyes and were down 8-0 before they could even blink. Senior midfielder Kristin Abruzzese put BU on the board with nine minutes left in the half, but the Terriers gave up two more goals before the half, falling behind 10-1.
Even with a quick goal from senior attacker Katie Nordhoff to open the second half, the Terriers were never able to climb out of the early eight-goal deficit and fell 16-7.
Along with her first goal, Abruzzese added one more. She was joined by senior Molly Byrne, whose two goals were a career high. Nordhoff, junior Briana Smith and sophomore Kelly Trahon finished up the scoring with one goal apiece. Trahon and Abruzzese each added an assist.
The game, played at the College of New Jersey, was just one game in the excruciating schedule first-year coach Liza Shoemaker has placed before her team. While the Buckeyes were not ranked in the most recent top 20 issued by the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association poll, in which the Terriers were No. 20, Ohio State is now a perfect 4-0, with wins over Monmouth College, St. Bonaventure University and Duquesne University.
In addition to games such as this, the Terriers have many tough games coming up against nationally ranked opponents. Even with a combined record of just 6-6, the next three opponents for BU — the University of Maryland Baltimore County, Stanford University and Yale University — are tough matchups for the Terriers. Yale is currently No. 14 in the nation.
“With the loss of the automatic qualifier for the conference, we know we have to win our games against our ranked opponents to reach our goal of the NCAAs,” said senior goalkeeper and tri-captain Brooke Barrett.
The Terriers fell victim to a Buckeye team that shot out of the gate on Saturday. Before BU could regroup, the hole was far too deep. The key Ohio State assassin on Saturday was senior Megan Mirick.
Scoring four of her five goals in a span of 8:25 in the first half, Mirick buried the Terriers early and often. She also added one assist, and became the all-time leading scorer in Ohio State women’s lacrosse history.
Having already dropped a tough game at No. 5 University of North Carolina, the Terriers can ill afford another loss to a team such as Ohio State, which is not nationally ranked, and had yet to beat a real quality opponent before Saturday.
While the loss was tough for the Terriers, they will need to bounce back quickly as they play at UMBC Friday afternoon, and against Stanford at Loyola College on Sunday. If Barrett is able to pass her enthusiasm on to her teammates, then a quick rebound shouldn’t be a problem.
“We are excited to show everyone what a new and energized team BU is this year,” Barrett said last week. “We have so many weapons, both offensively and defensively, and it is so much fun to play behind this team. Liza [Shoemaker] brings a positive outlook to the season and has really helped us realize our potential as a team.”
While Shoemaker and her team suffered a setback this weekend, they will need to rebound quickly for three games in six days, including a home date with Yale.
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.
