The No. 15 Boston University field hockey team finished its regular season with a bang on Sunday afternoon as an overtime goal against Fairfield University put it at the top of the America East Conference, tied for first place with the University of New Hampshire.
The 3-2 victory was a hard-fought win for the Terriers (10-8, 4-1, America East), as they came from behind to claim victory nine minutes into overtime when sophomore forward Ysi Shieb scored her first career goal.
“In our last two overtimes we’ve come away with a win,” said BU coach Sally Starr. “We know we’re capable of winning in overtime.”
Fairfield (9-8, 1-4, America East) started off the scoring when senior Leah Furey shot the Stags’ first attempt of the game into the back of the net. Before the goal, the Terriers’ defense had been pressing the Stags hard during the first 20 minutes of the game.
“We were playing well when they scored – I really wasn’t that concerned,” Starr said. “I knew it would be matter of time and we would score. Plugging away and plugging away.”
Soon, BU tied the score against its conference rival when senior back Kate Murphy scored on a corner a few minutes after Fairfield’s goal. She was assisted by sophomore back Kat Spring on the penalty corner.
The score would remain the same as the teams went into the half tied 1-1.
Ten minutes into the second half, the Terriers took the lead off a goal from junior midfielder/forward Nicole von Oosterom.
In the 54th minute, Fairfield tied the score again, when one of the team’s leading scorers, Merit Westinberg, put the ball into the back of the net past BU’s freshman goalkeeper Valentina Cerda. Neither team scored again for the rest of the half and, ultimately, the game went into overtime.
Nine minutes into overtime, with an assist from junior back Jacinda MacLeod, Shieb scored for the Terriers, ending the game with a final score of 3-2 and earning BU the second seed in the America East tournament.
The game, originally scheduled for Saturday, had been postponed to Sunday because of snow, forcing the Terriers to drive almost six hours to a contest they ended up playing a day later. They were forced to drive another three hours on Sunday before finally playing the game.
“I respect their resiliency,” Starr said. “They didn’t allow that to be an excuse to underperform today – staying focused, overcoming adversity, being resilient as a team.”
Despite these difficult conditions, the Terriers played well and dominated their opponents offensively with 31 shots to the Stags’ six. They also earned 20 offensive corners to their opponents’ four, opportunities that they were able to capitalize on, as two of BU’s goals came on these corners.
Starr credited the strong defensive play of Fairfield’s goalkeeper Maddy Sposito, who had nine saves in about 62 minutes of play, as the reason the Stags were able to stay in the game for so long.
“Their goalie was outstanding today,” Starr said. “She made unbelievable saves.”
The game, the Terriers’ final of the season, also had significant long-term effects as they head into the America East Tournament as the No. 2 seed. The team’s only conference loss came at the hands of UNH, whose victory over the Terriers two weeks ago gave the Wildcats the first seed in America East.
Despite this, the team heads into the tournament after a win, one Starr believes is very significant.
“Definitely always good going in on a positive,” Starr said. “You want to come in with confidence and with some momentum. Winning this game will definitely give us this. That was something the team had set as a goal. They have achieved it.”
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