Depending on whose poll you look at, the No. 11/12 Boston University women’s lacrosse team is either the favorite or underdog heading into its noon matchup against the No. 15/9 University of Notre Dame at Nickerson Field on Saturday.
The Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association coaches’ poll ranks the Terriers (4-2) 11th in the nation while the Fighting Irish (3-1) is 15th. However, the media poll compiled by Inside Lacrosse has Notre Dame three spots ahead of BU.
As different as their rankings may be, both teams will try to overcome a common obstacle each has faced in the early going &- defeating ranked opponents.
In Notre Dame’s only game against a ranked opponent, the Fighting Irish fell at home to then-No. 20 Dartmouth College, 12-8. That has been the only time the Notre Dame offense has been held to single-digits in their first four games. Junior midfielder Shaylyn Blaney, the team’s leading goal scorer with 12 goals, was held scoreless despite taking four shots.
By comparison, the Terriers schedule has been much more stacked in the early going, as half of their opponents so far have appeared in the national polls. In those games against ranked teams, BU is only 1-2, and those two losses have been far from pretty.
The Terriers struggled to find the back of the net in those losses and fell in consecutive road games to then-No. 5/6 Duke University and then-No. 18 Vanderbilt University by the scores 10-6 and 10-5, respectively, setting season lows for goals scored in consecutive games.
The team’s lone win over a ranked foe came at home on March 7 against the College of William and Mary. The Terriers were able to jump out to an 11-6 lead at the half before coasting to a 15-10 win at Nickerson Field.
Like that game, BU will again take the field at Nickerson tomorrow afternoon, which should play into their favor. The Terriers are 10-1 at home dating back to last year, including two wins against zero losses so far this season.
Also playing in the Terriers’ favor appears to be the fact that they have solved the offensive woes that plagued them during their Southern road trip of a week ago.
In Wednesday’s contest against Harvard University, the BU offense returned to its scoring ways by putting a big 13 on the scoreboard, three more goals than its season average. Senior attacker McKinley Curro spearheaded the offensive resurgence by tallying seven points on three goals and four assists, one point short of the career-high that she set in last year’s win over Harvard. Senior attacker Jenny Taft was also especially accurate, scoring three times on only four shots in the effort.
On paper, it appears that Notre Dame had an offensive resurrection of its own last Saturday. The Fighting Irish were able to escape the West Coast with a 14-12 win in double overtime over the University of California-Berkeley. However, only 10 of those goals came during the regulation period, which would have been their second-lowest total of the season had the game not gone into extra frames.
Game Notes: This will be the first-ever women’s lacrosse matchup between BU and Notre Dame…The Fighting Irish has played once before at Nickerson Field during the 2006 NCAA Semifinals where they lost 14-8 to Dartmouth…Senior attacker Gina Scioscia is riding a 23-game scoring streak for Notre Dame, during which she has amassed 57 goals and 41 assists.
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