The No. 13 Boston University field hockey team jumped two spots in the weekly Kookaburra/NFHCA national poll to reach its highest spot since October 2007.
The move comes at somewhat of a surprise after the Terriers (5-1) suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of rival Northeastern University, 1-0, Sunday.
However, the team's 2-0 upset win over then-No. 7 Boston College two days earlier gave BU its best start in program history. The Eagles dropped four spots to No. 11 and now stand just two places ahead of the Terriers.
Depending on the national statistic you take into consideration, the Terriers may actually have the upper hand, not only over BC but also over every other team in the Northeast.
BU ranks first in the region according to fieldhockeycorner.com's average computer rating, a system similar to college football's BCS computer ratings.
That puts them just above fellow 2009 America East finalist University at Albany, University of Massachusetts-Amherst (who the Terriers defeated 2-1 already this season) and BC, respectively. The Terriers rank eighth on the national stage in that category, ahead of No. 5 Michigan State University, who BU will face Saturday in Kent, Ohio.
That matchup with the Spartans should drive up the team's strength of schedule, one of the few categories that the Terriers don't rank in the top 20 nationally.
<strong>Best offense is a good defense</strong>
As nice as it is to be climbing the national polls, the Terriers would perhaps not even be in the top 20 were it not for their spectacular defense.
BU ranks third in the nation with 0.5 goals per game, behind No. 1 University of North Carolina and No. 6 University of Connecticut who are each just a hair ahead of the Terriers at 0.4. By comparison, it took the Terriers just two games in 2009 to allow as many goals as they have in six this season.
Senior goalkeeper Amanda Smith ranks fourth nationally on her own in goals-against average at 0.57. Sophomore goalie Julie Collins actually has a better GAA (0.40) and would be first in the NCAA if the 50 percent playing time requirement hadn't deemed in her ineligible.
The duo had been sharing the duties in front of the net up until Friday's win over BC when Smith played all 70 minutes of the shutout. Don't expect the rotation to come to a complete stop, however, as BU coach Sally Starr acknowledged after the game that she kept the senior in the game to give her an opportunity to finish out her final game against the team's ultimate rival.
As good as the two goalies' stats have been, those numbers are as much a testament to the defense surrounding them as the netminders themselves. The pair actually combines to make just three saves per game, by far the lowest amount of any team in AE.
Defenders like junior Kate Murphy, sophomores Jacinda McLeod, Kiley Allosso and Rachael White have done a solid job of limiting opponents' scoring chances. If the BU offense, which averages just two goals per contest, can match the defense's efficiency, the Terriers should be in solid shape heading towards the AE portion of its schedule.
<strong>Greene is good </strong>
On paper, perhaps the biggest surprise of the season has been junior forward Andrea Greene.
Greene had no NCAA experience before transferring to BU this year from Universidad Diego Portales in her homeland of Chile but has hit the ground running since her arrival this season.
She leads the conference in goals (six) and points (14) and is tied for the lead in game-winning goals with two. She was named AE's first Player of the Week for the week of Aug. 22-28 after tallying three goals on four shots in the team's opening two wins against Hofstra University and Virginia Commonwealth University.
Greene kept her hot streak going last weekend after scoring both of BU's goals in its win over BC before being held off the stat sheet along with the rest of the offense against Northeastern. For her efforts, she was named Student Athlete of the Week by GoTerriers.com.
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