Redshirt sophomore attacker Catie Tilton managed only four points on one goal and three assists over eight games last season. In each of her last two games, she has equaled that entire total with two goals and two assists against Boston College, and a goal and three assists against Stony Brook University last Saturday.
With senior captains Traci Landy and McKinley Curro scoring 47.7 percent of the Terriers’ goals this season, the Terriers have needed a strong third scorer all season, and it appears they may have found one at this late juncture in Tilton.
“I think Tilton 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 that were scoring the majority of our goals. Everyone else has to step up.’ I think Tilton has really taken that to heart and stepped up.”
Tilton had totaled only nine points in the season’s previous 13 games, three of which she actually started, before nearly doubling her season total in her last two starts.
Stuggles at Nickerson
Both of Tilton’s quality starts as of late have come on Nickerson Field, but unfortunately for the Terriers, home cooking hasn’t been as nice for the entire team this season.
The Terriers are just 4-4 at home this season and actually have a slightly better record on the road at 4-3. This comes a year after BU went 8-1 at Nickerson, with their only loss being a 19-18 nail-biter to then-No. 12 Vanderbilt University in the fourth game of the season.
That being said, BU would still benefit greatly from home-field advantage in the America East Tournament, where the Terriers have not lost a single game since 2004. The University at Albany, the only possible threat to take home-field advantage away from the Terriers, is actually undefeated at their place this season at a perfect 7-0. However, the Great Danes’ best win at home was arguably a 13-5 victory over lowly University of California, the owner of a 5-9 record, on April 16.
BU knows that it still has a little bit of work to do if it wants to play at home in the playoffs.
“We want to host the championship here so we have two more games to see if we can do it,” Robertshaw said.
BU still dominant in conference, though
As mediocre as the Terriers have been at home this season, they have been just as strong in AE play up until this point.
The closest scare the Terriers have endured in conference this season was in their first AE game on March 27, when they relied on nine second-half goals to beat Binghamton University 11-8. In their latest AE game last Saturday, the Terriers made sure that it was not nearly as close, thrashing Stony Brook 15-4.
Robertshaw admitted that her team approaches conference games a little differently than those on the other parts of the schedule.
“There’s a really sharp focus and I think we have it for every game,” Robertshaw said. “But it’s also something that’s been instilled in these players that when it comes time for conference, you have to take care of business. You have to go as hard as possible.”
Despite their momentum in AE heading into their last two contests, the Terriers realize that they must maintain, if not raise, that level of focus if they want to remain undefeated.
“I think today everything clicked really well,” said senior goalkeeper Rachel Klein. “I think we can tune things up even in terms of this game, but this is where we want to be heading into the conference tournament.”
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