Defensive breakdowns, poor goalkeeping and offensive stubbornness contributed to the No. 13 Boston University lacrosse team’s 11-9 loss to the Yale University Bulldogs yesterday.
The Terriers’ (4-4) defense and goalkeeping has been a strength this season, providing an aggressive front that’s laid the foundation for a strong attack. Yesterday, however, the defense came up short, and senior goalkeeper Rachel Klein made only one save.
“When we came out a little sluggish, not collapsing on double teams very well, it hurt us, and it got us in a hole early on,” said BU coach Liz Robertshaw.
Defensive breakdowns were a major problem in Wednesday’s contest, and the Terriers’ (4-4) miscommunications and missed opportunities persisted throughout the game.
“I think we struggled a little bit today with having each other’s backs and seeing balls and being ready to help out our teammates,” said junior midfielder Corcoran Downey.
Klein’s performance in net certainly didn’t help, and freshman Kim Ellsworth was put in to relieve her.
“[Klein] wasn’t seeing the ball as well as I think she has in the past,” Robertshaw said. “[Kim Ellsworth] has had some good warm-ups and she’s great in practice. She earned that time. I’m still going look to [Klein] for big things on Saturday, but we needed to make a change and . . . we needed a spark. We were hoping for Kim for that, and I thought she did a nice job in there.”
Despite Yale’s 17 turnovers, many of them caused by BU’s aggressive defense, the Terriers were unable to capitalize on the offensive end.
“I think it was partially stubbornness, not taking the time to see around the goalie, and I’m not going to take anything away from her, she’s a great keeper,” said senior co-captain McKinley Curro. “She’s big, but we weren’t making adjustments.”
Robertshaw was pleased that the Terriers, who outshot the Bulldogs, 37-15, bounced back from their shooting troubles against the University of Notre Dame. But she said she agreed that stubborn shooting was a problem.
“I love that we got a lot more shot opportunities, that’s something we’ve tried to work on and getting the shots were great,” Robertshaw said. “I’m even fine with missing the cage some of the times, but I think McKinley said it. We were stubborn shooters, and that’s a very good goalkeeper. She’s an All-Region goalkeeper, she’s 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.”
Yale sophomore goalkeeper Whitney Quackenbush made 16 saves, raising her save percentage to .540, and the Bulldog back line shut down senior co-captain Traci Landy, who came into the game as the team leader in goals (18) and points (19).
“I’m a little surprised by that,” Robertshaw said. “I’m going to look at the fill . . . I’m going to talk to Traci to see why it happened, and hopefully it doesn’t happen again.”
Even freshman Danielle Etrasco, an early standout on BU’s attack, said she was frustrated with her performance up until her final two goals in the last minutes of the game, Robertshaw said.
“I think it’s hard,” Robertshaw said. “She’s a very good player. I’m expecting a lot out of her, and I’m putting a lot of pressure on her. I think that she’s rising to that, and she’s still learning. In the end to have those goals was great. In the beginning of the game she had some of those shots. I told her to keep shooting and I expect her to keep going to cage.”
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