The No. 20 Boston University lacrosse team jumped out to a five-goal lead on its way to a 15-4 demolition of Stony Brook University on Saturday. The Terriers tied their season-high in goals, while the defense gave up a season-low four goals.
Senior goalie Rachel Klein made seven saves for the Terriers (8-7, 4-0 America East) before freshman Kim Elsworth came in to finish the game.
Sophomore midfielder Hannah Frey stepped up her game, leading BU with four goals. Three other Terriers combined for four points against the Seawolves (3-11, 1-4). Senior attacker Xan Weitzel tallied two goals and two assists to add to her team-leading 20 assists. Senior attacker McKinley Curro finished with three goals and an assist, and sophomore attacker Catie Tilton scored a goal of her own and set up three goals for her teammates.
“[The] seven attackers that were in at a time we all worked together,” Frey said. “Everyone was ready to score, everyone was helping each other get open and that is why we had such success.”
For the majority of this season, co-captains Curro and Traci Landy have led the Terriers offensively. But recently, Tilton and Frey have maximized their offensive input.
“Tilt[on] is doing a nice job of stepping up and getting good feeds,” said BU coach Liz Robertshaw. “It was also a challenge I made to the attackers. I said, right now we have two players scoring the majority of our goals. Everyone else had to step up and Tilt has really taken that to heart and done well. I think you saw Hannah today take that to heart and really took care of her opportunities and did a good job.”
BU scored the first five goals and took an 11-3 led into intermission against the Seawolves. The Terriers have had a much harder time, however, sustaining leads.
“I think that was a huge part of the win,” Frey said. “Coming out strong is a really big thing we’ve been focusing on this year. A lot of times we’ve come out strong and gotten a little bit downhill from there and today we came out strong right off the first whistle, got those draws, and we were able to keep the momentum going.”
The aggressive Terrier defense stymied the struggling Sea Wolves’ offense, limiting their shot total to 14, with only four coming in the second half. Stony Brook had trouble setting up possession at its offensive end, as BU caused many turnovers around midfield. The visitors’ failure to clear the ball on 10 of their 23 opportunities, in addition to their 25 turnovers, reflected the aggressive nature of the Terriers’ defense.
“The week we really focused on being aggressive and going out to attack their attack,” Klein said. “So I think that really helped us. Being really aggressive and not being scared to take risks &- I think that really helped us today.”
Stony Brook was more than willing to allow the BU offense plenty of space and time, as it stepped back and willingly played a conservative style of defense.
“It got us some more time on the attacking end where we could hold it down there,” Robertshaw said. “I’ll give them credit &- they made us work for our goals and I think that’s something at times we stepped up and did it really well, other times a little shaky.”
The Terriers clinched a spot in the AE playoffs with the win. BU is still tied with Albany at the top of the league standings, but Saturday’s performance was a bright spot in what has been an inconsistent season.
“We’re back to playing how we want to play,” Klein said. “We’ve refocused, refreshed in practice and got back to basics, and I think that’s what we want to do for the rest of the season.”
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