Field Hockey, Sports

Field Hockey looking to come back off down year

The No. 19 Boston University field hockey team has become accustomed to playing in the postseason, thanks to three-consecutive America East Conference championships and NCAA Tournament appearances. Yet, these successes gave way to a disappointing campaign last season that ended in the first round of the conference tournament.

Now, after a rare off year, BU is poised to rebound from recent adversity and recapture its playoff glory.

‘We fell off the conference championship wagon last year and we really want to get back on that,’ BU coach Sally Starr said. ‘We really want to reclaim that dominance of the America East and use that as a springboard into the NCAA Tournament.’

Leading the Terriers this season are senior co-captains Nikki Lloyd and Haley Robinson. Lloyd, last season’s points leaders and reigning America East Player of the Week, and Robinson, a defender with a team-high 55 career starts, anchor the team on offense and defense. The captains will rely on other veterans to help guide the squad, just like upperclassmen from another BU hockey team, one that brought a national championship trophy back to Commonwealth Avenue last school year.

‘What I like about these captains is positionally [sic], one’s more in the defensive area, one’s more in the attacking area, so we really have good balance on the field with our captains,’ Starr said. ‘We’re a young team, so senior leadership, not only by the captains, but also by the upperclassmen really is essential.

‘That was really a huge part of the men’s ice hockey success this past year ‘- leadership not only by the captain but by the entire senior class setting the example.’

Lloyd is anticipated to head a talented attack, along with sophomores Giovanna Monaco and Kali Cardoza, and redshirt freshmen Leslie Zules and Steph Pepper. The unit has been without the services of junior Gabby Hajjar, out for the year with a knee injury, and junior Ciara Corbett, who is expected back soon.

‘I think Nikki is really one of the premier forwards in the country,’ Starr said. ‘And then we have some young people who are supporting her who have the capabilities. They really worked hard over the summer . . . I think we have some outstanding weapons in our corner arsenal.’

In midfield, a new rule instituted during the offseason has made the game faster, playing to the Terriers’ strengths.

‘It’s a self-start rule, so after the whistle blows . . . [before,] the ball would have to be stopped and you’d have to pass it to get the ball back into play,’ Starr said in reference to the rule change. ‘Now the ball just has to be stopped and you can take off with it yourself. . . .

It makes the game even more exciting.’

In particular, Starr said the speed of junior Allie Dolce will help the Terriers capitalize on the change. Dolce, New Zealand freshman Nicole van Oosterom and redshirt freshman Rachel White will anchor BU’s midfield core. The group will need to overcome the absence of veterans, missing senior Sheena Berry, who lost her eligibility, and sophomore Kiley Allosso, who suffered from mononucleosis during the preseason.

BU’s backs, led by Robinson, also feature new faces and underclassmen following the departure of graduated captains Lizzie Perreault and Holly Wiles. Freshman Jacinda McLeod played on New Zealand’s junior national team, redshirt freshman Macey Gaumond is improving and sophomore Kate Murphy is playing defense for the first time in her career.

But what the group might lack in age and experience, they more than make up for with another important attribute.

‘Even though we’re very young, I really see that we’re really athletic in that position,’ Starr said.

Perhaps the biggest difference between this season and last is in goal. Junior Kim Kastuk, the reigning America East Goalkeeper of the Year, transferred to the University of Virginia in the offseason. Filling her spot between the pipes will be junior Amanda Smith, who had just two career starts heading into the season, along with redshirt freshman Julie Collins and late walk-on Jess Maroney.

Despite the inexperience of her goalkeepers, Starr is confident there will not be any issues in the cage.

‘Amanda Smith keeps getting better and better,’ Starr said. ‘When I think back to how she was as a freshman to how she is today as an athlete and as a goaltender, [it’s a] 180.’ . . . She’s definitively capable of keeping the score low and making the saves she needs to make and . . . the exceptional saves.’

Though the Terriers have dropped three of their first four matches, they have done so against stiff competition, even stealing a win from the No. 17 University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

‘ ‘We [played] the best of the [Atlantic 10 Conference] and the best of the [Big 10 Conference],’ Starr said. ‘Our focus right now is . . . just to take it one step at a time and one game at a time and one practice a time and look to get better and better and better every day. The way that we showed we could compete against Maryland . . . if we grow and mature as a team, then we can be very successful in the NCAA Tournament as well.’

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