When in North Carolina, the philosopher/rapper Petey Pablo suggests that one should ‘raise up.’ He then eloquently adds that one should also ‘take yo’ shirt off, twist it round yo’ head, spin it like a helicopter.’
The Boston University Field Hockey team needed the first part of this advice to stick this past weekend, as they traveled to the Tar Heel state to play at No. 1 Wake Forest University and No. 4 Duke University. The women, however, did not show evidence of heeding Pablo’s sage advice, losing 6-0 and 7-0 to the Demon Deacons and Blue Devils, respectively.
Saturday’s game in Winston-Salem saw the host Demon Deacons (10-0, 3-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) play like the No. 1 team in the nation, chaining up the Terriers’ offense and making the defense a lot like Marsh Chapel hole-y. BU (6-5, 1-1 America East) managed only two shots on goal, while the Deacons sent 32 on net. Not to mention that Wake had a 22-0 advantage on penalty corners.
The Deacons’ attack provided a nice setting for redshirt freshman goalie Erin Prediger to notch a career-high 15 saves. But after giving up four of the six goals, she was taken out in favor of junior Jodie Gardner, who gave up two goals and made two saves in the final 14:10.
On the other side of the field, Wake pitched its sixth shutout of the season behind senior goalie Katie Ridd and freshman Kristina Gagliardi. Ridd stopped both shots, which came off the stick of senior Whitney Peabody. Junior Kelly Dostal led the scoring for the Deacons with two goals, while sophomore Maeke Boreel helped the cause with two assists.
On Sunday, the Blue Devils (9-2, 1-1 ACC) came out red hot against the Terriers, acquainting five balls with the back of the goal in the first half. They cooled down in the second half, but still provided a hellish day for BU.
The Terrier offense also came out with a bite with 10 first-half shots, but was kenneled by Duke goalie Christy Morgan, who stopped anything that came her way. Morgan poured salt in the Terriers’ wounds, making two diving stops on breakaways, as BU peppered the net early, hoping to avoid another shutout.
BU upped its shot and penalty corner total to 11 and 11 on Sunday, to show marked improvement from Saturday’s Demon Deacon defeat. Senior forward Celeste Hubbard said the offensive improvement was a reason to be optimistic.
‘At the end of the Wake game, we were on edge,’ she said. ‘We didn’t feel like we played to our top caliber. But after the Duke game, we were really even with them in the first half. The score wasn’t indicative. It was really back and forth. You’d think the score would have been 2-1.’
But, on the whole, the trip to North Carolina will help the team in the future, Hubbard said. Playing two of the top teams in the nation, including last year’s national champion in Wake Forest, will help the team when they return to their ‘important’ America East games and help take the team to the next level.
‘For one thing,’ she said, ‘we learned just what separates us from being a top-10 program. It’s decision-making. We play a similar style [to Duke], but right now they’re executing.’
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