Last season, an unranked Boston University women’s lacrosse team upset then-No. 9/15 Dartmouth College at Nickerson Field 9-7, in what would be arguably the Terriers’ best win of the season.
The stage is set for an almost identical matchup again on Wednesday, as BU will travel to Hanover, N.H., to try to topple a Dartmouth squad that is once again ranked No. 9/15 in the country.
“Dartmouth is a strong team, currently ranked around the top-10 nationally,” said BU coach Liz Robertshaw. “It’s always a grudge match with us, and we need to go into the game set in our game plan and ready to fight for 60 minutes.”
BU (1-2), which won its last game over George Mason University 16-8 on the road, will play its fourth consecutive away game on Wednesday. The Terriers were supposed to play their home opener last Wednesday against Yale University, but inclement weather forced their game to be postponed.
While Robertshaw doesn’t believe that the constant road games propose any issues for her team, the timing of this stretch during midterms is something she has taken note of.
“Travelling isn’t a bad thing because it gets us away from campus and the distractions that come up in the daily life of a student-athlete,” Robertshaw said. “Knowing we’re in the midst of a mentally and physically demanding stretch of games during midterms, I think, is more influential and something we’re really working through.”
The Terriers earned their first win of the year in the George Mason game, breaking their two-game losing streak that started the season.
The start was BU’s worst beginning to a season since 1998.
In the win, junior attack Danielle Etrasco and freshman attack Mallory Collins scored five goals apiece, leading the Terriers’ offense, which scored a season-high 16 goals on the day.
The duo of Etrasco and Collins has paced the Terriers all season long, combining for 23 of the Terriers’ 36 total goals this season – almost two-thirds of the total offense.
While Collins was not yet at BU when the Terriers topped the Big Green last season, Etrasco was a big part of the 9-7 win over Dartmouth, as she scored a game-high two goals and accounted for one assist.
Dartmouth (2-0) will be in search of revenge, as well as its third straight win to begin its season. In its first two games, the Big Green took down America East opponent University of New Hampshire 13-7 before winning a 9-8 decision over Yale on Saturday.
Midfielder Sarah Plumb leads the Big Green offense. She has totaled nine goals and two assists on the season. In the win over Yale, Plumb scored six of the team’s nine goals.
BU’s offense is outscoring Dartmouth’s offense on the season, as BU averages 13.33 goals per game compared to Dartmouth’s 12. However, Dartmouth’s defense has not allowed more than eight goals in a game this season, while the least amount of goals BU has allowed in any of their three games has been eight.
Robertshaw has yet to decide on her starting goalkeeper for Wednesday’s game, as she tends to leave that decision until game day. While sophomore Christina Sheridan has started all three games of the year, Robertshaw mentioned that junior goalkeeper Kim Elsworth is performing just as well in practice.
In her three appearances this season, Sheridan has made 27 saves and has a 9.33 goals against average.
“[Sheridan] is playing well and I could see that being the call, but Kim had a great practice today and I expect the same from her tomorrow,” Robertshaw said. “I know both keepers will be ready for Wednesday and I will have 100% confidence in both of them for that game.”
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