Green a Big test for lax

In its final non-conference game of the season, the Boston University lacrosse team will take on 10th-ranked Dartmouth College.

The Big Green (9-3, 6-1 Ivy League) currently occupy the same spot in the national rankings that the Terriers (6-8, 3-1 America East) had in the coaches’ preseason poll. But a five-game losing streak and a troubling plague of injuries knocked BU under the .500 mark and out of the national rankings weeks ago.

As the team closes out the regular season with three games in the next five days, BU coach Liza Shoemaker said her team could receive a tremendous mental and emotional lift with a victory Wednesday.

“I think it would be an incredible confidence boost for the team,” she said. “And I think it’s entirely realistic. We can beat Dartmouth. The girls just have to realize that they can beat Dartmouth.”

The Terriers have never toppled the Big Green, with Dartmouth owning a 6-0 edge in the series’ history. Last season, then-freshman Lindsay Lewis netted four goals in a 9-7 loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. In 2001, BU took Dartmouth to triple overtime before falling 9-8.

If BU is able to pull off the unprecedented upset Wednesday, the win could spark the team as it closes out the season with conference games against the University at Albany on Friday and Binghamton University on Sunday.

The Terriers still have a chance to grab the top spot in the America East, despite losing to the University of New Hampshire, their first loss in 15 conference games. The Wildcats face the University of Maryland, Baltimore County on Saturday, and if the Retrievers can manage the upset, they will tie the Terriers and the Wildcats in a three-way knot for first place.

“Winning games before a tournament and getting on a roll definitely helps a team before a tournament,” Shoemaker said. “That’s the nice thing about the America East Tournament. Whatever your record is, you win two games and you’re in the NCAAs. It’s time to step up and get things done.”

And while Shoemaker’s call for her team to “step up” may come at a crucial point in the season, the Terriers have had problems stepping anywhere this season without getting hurt.

The team has suffered a string of injuries to key players, most recently with junior attacker Alyssa Trudel – the team’s second-leading scorer behind Lewis – roaming the sidelines during a 15-8 win over Stony Brook University on Senior Night Saturday.

At various points this year, senior defender Sasha Lang, sophomore midfielder Keely Anderson and senior midfielder Hannah Cross have been forced off the field to tend to injuries.

Lang and Cross both played in the victory over Stony Brook, but Shoemaker said the team is still not at 100 percent, especially with players who haven’t sat out playing through various injuries all season.

“We’re not quite fully healthy,” the coach said. “We’re going to rest some people tomorrow, and hopefully that will get us ready for the tournament.”

The Terriers hope that the return of a healthier lineup will spark a resurgence in the offense, which has struggled at times this year. Due to the string of injuries, the squad’s offensive weapons, such as Lewis and Trudel, have been forced to move to the midfield or even the defense, in the case of Trudel.

Already this season, BU has been held to single digits six times. Last year, the Terriers had only failed to score 10 or more goals three times.

Some individuals have stepped up and tried to carry the offense, such as junior Kelly Trahon, who netted seven goals and added two assists against Stony Brook. And less than halfway through her college career, Lewis already ranks ninth on the all-time scoring list with 100 points in only 33 games.

But even with players like freshman Noelle Hopper and sophomore Kaitlyn Cuneo trying to fill the voids left by the injuries, Shoemaker has been stressing one part of the game before the showdown with Dartmouth.

“Attack. We’ve been working on scoring goals and running our sets in the offense,” she said.

And while the Terriers will be coming off of a 15-8 victory, the Big Green will be out for revenge after losing 17-8 to Princeton University, the nation’s top-ranked team.

If BU gets past Dartmouth, however, the road to the America East Tournament becomes much easier, with only Albany and Binghamton left on the schedule.

In the past two years, the Terriers have defeated each team once by a score of 20-0, Albany suffering the drubbing last season and Binghamton earning the honors in 2002.

BU will end the regular season with all three games in enemy territory, a fitting way to cap off a season that has featured 11 road or neutral site games, compared with only six home games.