Since opening the season with two weekend sweeps, the No. 13/21 Boston University field hockey team has yet to return to the broom closet, going three straight weekends without a clean sweep.
However, that trend may be reversed soon if the Terriers (7-4, 1-0 America East) can’t dust off Fairfield College on Saturday and Dartmouth College on Sunday.
If the Terriers can’t beat those teams, it’ll be because they beat themselves.
While the Terriers are coming off a tough 1-0 loss to No. 14/16 Duke University, they’re also coming off a weekend in which they defeated University of Vermont 6-0, doubling their largest offensive output this season. That game reenergized the Terriers’ offense, a major weakness this season.
Before the Vermont game, the shot each of their opponents but couldn’t find twine. They were haunted by a self-proclaimed “drought in scoring,” as BU associate head coach Tracey Paul said before last weekend’s games.
It only took one game to bring the Terriers back to their scoring ways.
“I think our drought in scoring is definitely over,” Paul said. “I think we are capable of being a high scoring team. Teams have been packing their defenses on us, and we’ve been working, in the past week or so, not just in manufacturing scoring opportunities but in scoring against packed defenses. And that is paying dividends.”
Against Vermont, BU scored six goals with five different players, none of whom were points-leading junior striker Andrea Greene or runner-up senior striker Allie Dolce. With the scoring slump squashed, the Terriers will play the Stags (7-5, 0-1 AE) with plenty of scoring threats.
Although the Stags boast a winning record, they put it together with the help of a weak non-conference schedule. Fairfield has played some of the worst D-I teams, and the team’s five losses have not come against the cream of the crop, either. Its seven wins have come against teams that have won an abysmal 11 games altogether. Fairfield’s 3-0 loss at the hands of University at Albany last weekend at the start of AE action revealed the team’s weaknesses.
The Terriers have lost games to seemingly weaker opponents already this season, however. Despite Fairfield’s 64th ranking out of 79 D-I in a recent RPI poll, Paul remained cautious
“Fairfield has played very hard for their coach,” she said. “They have got some extremely good offensive players who have the tenacity to score goals, and they are having one of their best seasons, regardless of RPI. It’s still very early, and we fell in RPI ranking from eighth to 21st. So, I wouldn’t classify a team’s capabilities on an RPI ranking, for sure.”
Paul said handling Fairfield’s transition offense would be important on Saturday.
“We have to respect their ability to transition quickly onto attack,” she said. “We’re talking to our team about the transitional aspect of our game. We also have to make sure that we take full advantage of all our opportunities to create a positive outcome. But most importantly, we have to play Terrier hockey. We have to play to our capacity and capability.”
If the Terriers can replicate their offensive effort against Vermont and can keep up their stellar defense, they’ll remain undefeated in conference.
In their second game this weekend, the Terriers return to non-conference play hosting the 8-2 (2-1 Ivy League) Big Green from Dartmouth in what should be a more challenging game, but it’s also one BU can win handily.
The Big Green were ranked 37th in the RPI poll, mostly for the same reason that Fairfield was at the bottom of the pile &- weakness of schedule. However, Dartmouth’s opponents have not all been pushovers.
“This is a team that has the capacity to beat anybody,” Paul said. “They are a team that has suffered a few impact player injuries, so I don’t look at their [6-1 loss to University of Maine] with great significance. They’re dangerous. They’ve shown that they can score goals. So, I think we just have to concentrate and focus on ourselves.”
The Big Green’s strength is their offense, so the matchup against BU’s stingy defense should be interesting.
On defense, BU will look to stifle Big Green junior midfielder Kelly Hood, who leads the team with 15 goals and 32 points.
Paul said Hood’s penalty corner would be a dangerous option for Dartmouth, but the Terriers have allowed just three corners in their last three games.
The Big Green has struggled against AE teams &- Maine demolished Dartmouth last weekend. But if the Terriers underestimate their opponent, they could be heading into the week with another split.
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