The No. 13 Boston University lacrosse team struggled to score goals early in the game and ultimately couldn’t recover on its way to an 11-9 defeat against Yale University Wednesday afternoon at Nickerson Field. The Terriers, with the loss, fall to 4-4, while Yale improves to 4-4.
The Bulldogs led for the entire game even though they were outshot 37-15. Yale sophomore netminder Whitney Quackenbush was easily the star of the game, making 16 saves.
“It was partially stubbornness, not taking the time to see around the goalie,” said senior attack McKinley Curro of their lack of scoring. “I’m not going to take anything away from her, she is a great keeper. She’s big, but wasn’t making adjustments.”
Yale grabbed the early lead, scoring the first two goals of the game, but BU freshman attacker Danielle Etrasco cut that lead in half off a play made by BU’s pressure defense. Senior captain Traci Landy stole the ball and found a wide-open Etrasco, who one-timed a shot past Quackenbush. Etrasco finished the game with a team-high three goals.
“She is a very good player,” said BU coach Liz Robertshaw. “I’m expecting a lot out of her and I’m putting a lot of pressure on her. I think she is rising to that, [but] she is still learning. I think she can have six goals a game, I really do, we just need her to get there.”
The visitors padded their lead less than five minutes later when sophomore Caroline Crow received a pass from senior Jenna Block and, from a tough angle, put the ball in the top left corner of the net just above the shoulder of BU senior netminder Rachel Klein. The Bulldogs struck again less than a minute later when junior midfielder Kaitlyn Flatley raced past two BU defenders and then beat Klein on a low-bouncing shot.
The Terriers responded with another two-goal run in a span of less than two minutes to pull within one, with goals from seniors Jenny Taft and Curro. Curro spun past a Yale defender and beat Quackenbush for one of her two goals in the game.
“I love that she is coming on strong. She is doing what a senior should do,” Robertshaw said. “She struggled the first couple of games, but if you’re a senior captain on this team you step up and you lead and that’s what she did today.”
For the second time, Yale regained its composure up by just one, and got an insurance goal on a free-position shot. BU pulled within one on a goal by sophomore Hannah Frey and an assist by senior Xan Weitzel, but Yale entered the intermission period with the momentum, having scored the last goal of the half for a two-goal lead.
Klein, who has played well all season, struggled on Monday. The Forest Hill, Md. native made only one save on ten shots before being replaced by freshman Kim Elsworth midway through the second half.
“She wasn’t seeing the ball as well as she has in the past,” Robertshaw said. “I talked to Anne [Sheridan], the goalkeeper coach, who felt comfortable with Kim [Elsworth]. She earned that time. It is unfortunate for Rachel, I’m still going to look for her for big things on Saturday, but we needed to make a change. We needed a spark, and I thought she did a nice job in there.”
“We struggled a little bit today with having each others’ backs and seeing balls and being ready to help out our teammates,” said junior Corcoran Downey of the team’s defense.
The Terriers had a couple of chances early in the second period to make a comeback, but could not convert on two free-position shots. The Bulldogs began to run away with the game when they scored four straight goals in less than eight minutes to increase their lead to six. Crow led Yale with three goals and an assist.
With 17 minutes to go in the game, the Terriers made a valiant comeback, scoring the last five of the game’s six goals, but the 5-foot-10 Quackenbush made some big saves in the final minutes to preserve the lead for Yale.
“We didn’t play to our potential and it is just really disappointing. We have the talent, we have what it takes, but we still need to figure out a way to get it done,” Curro said.
“I don’t think defensively we had a strong day. From an attacking standpoint I love that we got a lot more shot opportunities, that’s something we’ve worked on. We were stubborn shooters. That’s an all-region goalkeeper, a big kid, and she covers the cage very well. We unfortunately didn’t change up our shots enough in order to make the goals.
“Overall, I like the comeback. I think it was a little late. There were some great things in there that we got to work on, but obviously a disappointing loss for us.”
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