As the season progresses for the Boston University field hockey team, it has become increasingly obvious that passion for the game has been and will continue to be a major factor in its success.
The No. 12 Terriers (6–3) have started five of their 21 players in all nine games, but there is no guarantee for spots on the field.
There are multiple skilled players in every position, so each individual must push herself to make it onto the field.
Even the two goalkeepers, sophomore Valentina Cerda Eimbke and senior Jess Maroney, trade time in the net.
“A really good thing about the team is [our] depth and that it’s so competitive to get playing time,” said BU coach Sally Starr. “It’s about being ready to play regardless of if you’re a starter of you’re coming off the bench.”
The competition, she said, makes them want to improve themselves because the players know what it takes to get playing time as well as what it takes to win the next game.
Conversion catastrophe
Each match played by the Terriers consistently reveals the same necessary improvement — conversion.
They have outshot their opponents 123–90, but they only have three more goals.
Because of a solid defense and a dominating possession game they are able to compete, but scoring only 13 percent of the time always looms over their heads.
One or two small mistakes against a team that regularly capitalizes, regardless of how short a time the opponent could actually have the ball, has repeatedly meant catastrophe and the team is well aware of the problem.
“We really need to convert,” Starr said. “When we have as many opportunities [as we have] that just has to convert into goals. We’re close … it’s just a matter of being a little lower, a little quicker, and a little more poised in the circle.”
The Terriers have been working on all aspects of their offense for the entire season.
The attack buildup from the goalkeeper all the way to the opposite net is well tuned.
All that has remained in focus in practice is that final movement and it will continue to be said Starr, until it is up to par with the rest of the team’s play.
Better on the road
At 5–1, BU has one of the best away records in the America East. The only game they lost was a 1–0 fall to the College of William & Mary, but the Terriers have time and again left home crowds disappointed as they boarded a bus home.
What makes them such tough competition on the road has not been any particular motivation specific to a team or a field, it has been indifference.
“We have a home field, but we don’t really have a home field advantage,” Starr said. “[Jordan] field is more of a home away from home because we have to travel to it too, so away games just don’t feel very different for us.”
Starr said that in a way, this benefits the team because it does not have to make as big of a deal about away games.
On the other hand, The Terriers are 1–2 at home, but they have faced much tougher competition on Jordan Field than they have off of it.
The two losses were the only games on the schedule thus far that have involved opponents ranked higher than BU — No. 2 Syracuse University and No. 7 University of Virginia.
As the Terriers season sits at its exact center point, they look forward to nine more games — five away and four at home — to push them that much closer to the postseason.
They now seek to continue their domination away from home in their first conference game this Friday against the University at Albany. The team will face five America East opponents in its next nine games.
“I’m proud of how the team had played so far,” Starr said. “We have things to improve on … and we have our strengths, but first we focus on Albany.”
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