Friday night the Boston University field hockey team (8-5, 2-0, America East) will face off against conference rivals University of New Hampshire (12-2, 2-0, America East) in a game that will determine, for the moment the top ceded team in their conference.
Coming off a strong weekend that culminated in a defeat of fellow America East team University of Maine, the Terriers look to continue their dominant conference play and emerge in sole possession of first place in the America East.
BU coach Sally Starr says she is “really looking forward to a good conference game,” and stresses the importance of a victory against a team as strong as UNH.
According to Starr, “UNH is an exceptional attacking team. They move the ball incredibly well. They’re an excellent passing team. This past weekend they put six goals up against a strong Stanford team.”
Forward and team captain Whitney Frates, whose three goals in the game against Stanford played a key role in the UNH victory, leads the Wildcat’s offense. For her strong play Frates was named America East Player of the Week on Monday and shutting her down will be an important piece of the Terrier’s defense. Her 14 goals this season are the second highest for the Wildcats.
It is this defense that has played such a significant role in BU’s successful season and led by four-time America East Rookie of the Week goaltender Valentina Cerda, the defense will attempt to, once again, shut down a high scoring team.
Starr says, “I think UNH is very similar [to Maine]. Our confidence and belief about begin able to defend has done a good job of holding high scoring teams.”
Continuing this strong play will serve the Terriers well this weekend as they face a team that averages 3.9 goals per game and 17.1 shots per game. These numbers are even better in conference play where the Wildcats, like BU, are undefeated.
But Starr revels in difficult games like this one. “I think they’ve been well tested this year. The schedule we’ve played has prepared us for this point in the season. We wanted to position ourselves to possibly have the opportunity to host the conference tournament. We really have grown a lot as a team.”
Other stand out players for the UNH team include forward Hayley Rausch whose 19 goals lead the team. Together her and Frates account for 33 of the Wildcat’s goals this season. Together, they are one of the strongest attacking forwards in the America East.
Though the BU defense has been a standout all season, the team’s offensive production is lower than Starr would like. They have only 33 goals to UNH’s 55 and average only 2.54 goals per game.
All season the Terriers have been able to pull of victory against high scoring teams with their strong defensive play. But, improving offensively is one of Starr’s goals for Friday’s game.
Starr says, “I think we’re doing a good job of getting the ball on the attacking side of the field but we need to put in the goal. We need to work on really increasing our positive play.”
This conference match-up could have significant long-term effects for the BU team. Three conference wins guarantees placement in the America East tournament, and the Terriers are only one conference victory away from receiving a position in the tournament. Victory against UNH would be this important win.
All season Starr has said that the team’s main goal for the season is to host the America East tournament and she sees this game as an opportunity to achieve just that goal.
Starr says the team wants to, “Control our destiny to host and really punch our ticket into the America East tournament.”
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