After coming from behind to win its previous two games, the Boston University lacrosse team never trailed in a 13-8 victory over the University of New Hampshire Wednesday afternoon at Nickerson Field.
“[Starting strong] was actually one of our focuses in our pregame speech of ‘Let’s go out and set a tempo. Let’s go set the tone,’” said BU coach Liz Robertshaw. “I was really impressed by the fact that we did go on a run and we did get ahead, which shows that we can go ahead and stay ahead, which is important.”
The win extends BU’s six-game winning streak and is the third Terrier (7-4, 3-0 America East) win in a row to begin America East play.
Senior attack Molly Swain got the Terriers on the board twice in the first 10 minutes and gave her team an early 2-0 lead. Swain netted her first in traffic directly in front of the goal before firing a free-position shot past UNH (3-7, 1-2 America East) goalkeeper Kathleen O’Keefe with 20:01 remaining in the first frame.
The teams traded goals until freshman attack Mallory Collins scored back-to-back goals of her own to give BU a 5-2 lead with 4:41 remaining in the first half. Collins’ efforts gave BU a three-goal lead to end the half and added her 30th and 31st goals of the season, a total that is best for a freshman in the America East Conference.
UNH started the second half strong though, with midfielder Kate Keagins making an end-to-end rush and attack Kayleigh Hinkle scoring on the rebound. Hinkle scored the goal with BU junior defenseman Monica Baumgartner off with a yellow card, which was UNH’s second goal with a man up in the contest.
A goal from Wildcat midfielder Amber Casiano brought the game within one before a quick shot from Ilana Cohen assisted by midfielder Laura Puccia tied the game at five with 20:55 left in the game. Puccia led the Wildcats in the game with three goals and two assists.
With the score tied at 6-6, junior attack Danielle Etrasco took the ball from behind the net, faked a shot and then fed senior attack Catie Tilton who snapped in a goal that gave BU a lead that it would never surrender.
Junior midfielder Kristen Mogavero scored her 19th goal of the season a few minutes later when O’Keefe stopped her initial shot, but accidentally knocked the ball across her own goal line on the rebound. Swain scored two more goals, her third and fourth of the game, just minutes afterward.
Swain and Collins led the team with four goals in the game, while Etrasco scored two goals and an assist. The trio of attacks provided almost all of the offense for the Terriers and has played off each other’s success to help put shots in the back of the net.
“We have talked about Danielle getting double-teamed at times or face-guarded, so is Mallory, so is Molly Swain, that every other person is going to have to be willing to step up at different times and I think you saw that,” Robertshaw said. “I think we are doing a good job of preparing the team for these face-guards to happen.”
BU is undefeated in its America East schedule thus far, but will have a tough test against it on Saturday when it travels to the University at Albany for a matchup against the defending America East Champions.
“We have shown fight and we have shown resilience as a team and that has done well for us in the last three games whether it’s coming back and winning or getting ahead and winning,” Robertshaw said. “[Albany] won the conference last year, they are aggressive, and they are going to want to get back to that conference championship. They know it’s going to be a battle between the two of us.”
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