It is only two games into the season, but the Boston University field hockey team has already experienced a near blowout, a shutout, a come-from-behind nail-biter and a sudden-death goal. Luckily for the Terriers, all of these occurrences have worked in its favor, resulting in a perfect weekend and a 2-0 record on the young season.
On Saturday, the Terriers downed Hofstra University in a 3-0 shellacking that featured solid goaltending and two breakaway two-on-one goals. They followed that with a 2-1 victory against Virginia Commonwealth University, a game that saw the Terriers overcome a one-goal deficit and win on a post-regulation corner goal by sophomore forward Nicole van Oosterom. Both games were part of the Capital Land College Classic.
"What I really liked about the weekend is that we were on the road," said BU coach Sally Starr. "We had the opportunity to get off campus and really continue to grow and form as a team, as a family. So, that was a real positive. I think that we had two very strong opponents against Hofstra and VCU, and I'm really happy that we took home the two wins."
While the Terriers are enjoying the return of their three top goal scorers from last year in senior midfielder Allie Dolce (8 goals-12 assists&-28 points), van Oosterom (10-3&-23) and sophomore backfielder Jacinda McLeod (9-3&-21), they are also incorporating new scoring threats. Last weekend, it was junior forward and America East Player of the Week Andrea Greene who made herself heard, scoring the first two goals of the Terriers' season in her BU debut. Her first goal came off of a corner in the seventh minute. She was assisted by senior midfielder Maryette Stuart and van Oosterom. The second resulted from a defensive breakdown that left Greene in a two-on-one situation with sophomore forward Leslie Zules. The pair connected on a pass, and Greene beat Hofstra (0-2) junior goalkeeper Amanda Heyde for a 2-0 lead at the end of the first half.
"Andrea's been great," Starr said. "She's a really talented hockey player, but even more importantly, she's a great teammate. She's really a very good leader on the field and off the field with her maturity that she brings. She has a lot of international playing experience. She played in the Junior World Cup that was held here in Boston last August. She just definitely brings us a lot of experience and a lot of excitement on the striker line because she's very gifted and she has the ability to really create an excellent attack force."
Greene, who is a newcomer on BU's campus, was enrolled at Universidad de Santiago de Chile, her hometown, for two years before opting to transfer to BU.
"I think she really fell in love with the city and wanted to pursue the opportunity to play here," Starr said. "And at the completion of the World Cup we began communicating and now she's here."
Dolce finished off the scoring shortly after halftime with another two-on-one goal that was assisted by sophomore midfielder Macey Gaumond, allowing the Terriers to cruise to a 3-0 victory.
On Sunday, the Terriers found themselves looking up at VCU (0-2) after Rams junior midfielder Marle van Dessel scored on the first shot of the game in the eighth minute. It did not take long, however, for Greene to tally her third goal of the weekend to tie the contest at one in the 20th minute. Following a second half marked by superb defense and a consistent attack by the Terriers, BU was rewarded with back-to-back corners at the end of regulation, the second of which was converted by van Oosterom, securing the win.
The winning goal came on van Oosterom's eighth shot of the season, a team high. Her ability to take good shots has made her a strong part of the Terriers' attack.
"Nicole, a lot of her shots are coming on corners," Starr said. "She's one of our options on our attack penalty corners. She's also position-wise in a spot where she can generate a lot of offense. She has an outstanding shot. She can really spot the ball well. As she got into that end-of-regulation situation at the end of the VCU game, she had the poise and the technical ability to put the ball exactly where she needed to."
In each of the weekend games, senior and sophomore goalkeepers Amanda Smith and Julie Collins split time, each playing a half in goal while combining to allow just one goal in 140 minutes.
"One of the qualities of this team right now is that you have a lot of people competing for playing time at every position- striker, midfielder and back," Starr said. "It's a healthy thing for a team to have that because it really makes practices very competitive and it also gives us a lot of leeway to play different people at different spots. [At goalie] we have Amanda Smith, who has a lot of experience from last year, and then also Julie who has really improved over the last couple years. For us, it's really a matter of, they're both doing really, really well so they'll continue splitting time, but it's a constant evaluation from practices and in-game performances."</p>
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