On another rainy day at Nickerson Field, the Boston University women’s lacrosse team was looking to capture its second victory of the season against No. 13 Dartmouth College, but the high-powered Big Green attack proved too much for the Terriers (1-1), who lost by a final score of 12-7.
BU controlled the opening draw, but was forced to play catch up for the majority of the night. Just over two minutes into the game, Dartmouth attack Danielle Lisovicz received a pass from fellow attack Hana Bowers on the right side of the cage. In the commotion in front of the net, BU junior goalkeeper Christina Sheridan was caught out of position, which allowed Lisovicz to score, giving the Big Green (4-0) a one-goal lead.
“I give credit to Dartmouth,” said BU coach Liz Robertshaw. “They’re going hard, they’re very confident, they’re taking nice risks to cage, and that was something we did not do today. We started off flat by not getting draw controls, and we knew that they were very good on the draws.”
The Terriers were on the losing end of the draw control margin, 12-6, which proved to be one of the key areas of deficiency for BU.
After taking the early 1-0 lead, senior captain Danielle Etrasco took the ball a few feet into BU’s offensive half of the field and streaked towards the Dartmouth cage. After eluding two defenders on her way, Etrasco fired a shot past Dartmouth goalkeeper Kristen Giovanniello to draw the teams even with her third goal of the season.
Etrasco, the team’s leading scorer, finished the game with three goals on five shots, and an assist, to bring her season totals to five goals and six total points.
Following her goal, the Big Green put in four straight goals to take a commanding 5-1 lead.
Just over 10 minutes into the game, Sheridan was called for a yellow card and was forced to sit as Dartmouth was awarded a free-position shot on an open net. Prior to taking the shot, BU scrambled to make adjustments in order to have a chance at deflecting it, but the team was too shorthanded to make the stop.
“I don’t think we looked as poised and confident in the game plan,” Robertshaw said. “I felt that we, as coaches, had to keep reminding them of what’s going on.”
To end the scoring drought, Etrasco received a pass from sophomore attack Jenna Boarman on the right side of the cage and fired it past Giovanniello for her second score of the game to bring BU within 3 goals, 5-2.
Dartmouth scored two more goals to extend its lead to 7-2, but two unanswered goals from junior attack Elizabeth Morse and senior attack Kristen Mogavero brought the Terriers within three once again But just eight seconds after Mogavero’s goal, Dartmouth attack Lindsey Allard scored her third goal of the game to push her team ahead 8-4.
With 49 seconds left in the half, Mogavero received a pass in front of the cage from Boarman, which she handled and fired a low bounce shot that snuck past Giovanniello.
At the half, Dartmouth held an 8-5 lead and had control of the game.
“For us, we got down there and we had some nice looks, but for the first half we weren’t playing enough attack,” Robertshaw said.
Coming out in the second half, Dartmouth resumed its relentless attack and put in three straight goals, taking an 11-5 lead, before the Terriers responded.
Once again it was Etrasco who sparked the BU attack when she took the ball and finished with a shot past Giovanniello for an unassisted goal to bring the Terriers within five goals of Dartmouth. Morse added another goal for BU with 6:31 remaining, but it was not enough, as the Terriers ultimately fell 12-7.
“We can’t dwell on it. We have Notre Dame next, and they are ranked tenth,” Robertshaw said. “We can’t sit here and worry about it, but we do have to address the fear factor because if any of these players were hesitating or scared, they have it get over it.”
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