This wasn’t how the season was supposed to end, with a 4-3 overtime loss to Michigan in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. But for the Boston University field hockey team, the 2005 season was one hell of a wild ride. They made their first appearance in the NCAA tourney since 2000, played in eight – count ’em, eight – overtime games on the season, boasted an America East Offensive Player of the Year and an America East Rookie of the Year, and were anchored by a defense that was more stubborn than a liquor store owner to a bunch of freshmen with fake IDs.
Oh yeah, they did all this without playing a single home game. And for that, they deserve all the credit in the world.
Though their home games were played near Boston, they were played across the Charles at MIT’s Jack Barry field. I’m sorry, that doesn’t count. A legitimate home game is played at your own school. A legitimate home game is no more than a 10-minute walk away from the bulk of the student body. A legitimate home game doesn’t require a bus for the team to get to.
“MIT isn’t a convenient location for people. It’s not as though they [BU students] are walking past Nickerson, see us playing, and stop to watch,” junior goalkeeper Erin Prediger said.
Yet none of this fazed the Terriers. It seemed as if all they needed were some sticks, a ball, a field and an opponent to play, and that was just fine with them.
Despite the fact that they played 10 away games, and only six “home” games at Jack Barry during the regular season, the Terriers (16-6 overall, which is a road record for all intents and purposes) had one of their most successful seasons in the history of the program.
The offense was led by sophomore forward Sarah Shute (11 goals, 26 points on the season) and freshman Holly Wiles (12 goals, 25 points), who each enjoyed breakout seasons and won the Offensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year, respectively. The offensive theme of the season was getting up early, as Terriers outscored opponents 32-9 in the first half. That’s just absurd. For an equally absurd statistic, they outshot their opponents by 118 shots, 334-216. As a team, they led the America East in goals and points per game.
Let’s not overlook the defense, which had its fair share of ridiculous statistics. Raise your hand if you knew Erin Prediger led the America East in goals-against average, with a paper-thin 1.31, more than half a goal lower than her closest conference challenge. Or that she had five shutouts, again tops in the America East. Equally as important to the Terriers defensive success were senior backs Colleen McClay and Caitlyn Cassara.
Put the high-flying offense and the stonewalling defense together, and it added up to an America East championship and an NCAA Tournament berth, made possible by a victory over Central Michigan in the NCAA play-in game.
What’s scary is that McClay and Cassara are the only seniors graduating. The Terriers are returning basically the same team next year. Shute, Wiles and Prediger will continue to be the forces that they are. Look for big things from junior forwards Amy Seaman and Ashley Parker, who are both poised to have breakout campaigns.
Maybe it doesn’t matter that the Terriers don’t have a real home field. What they proved in 2005 is that you just have to tell them where to play, and they’ll play. And win.
Jason Claffey, a junior in the College of Communication, is a weekly sports columnist for The Daily Free Press. He can be reached at jclaff@bu.edu.
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.
