The Boston University women’s lacrosse team welcomed No. 14 Loyola University-Maryland to Nickerson Field Saturday afternoon.
The Terriers (6-8, 4-3 Patriot League) could not break out of their recent slump, as they fell to the Greyhounds (11-4, 7-0 Patriot League) by a score of 19-8.
“We just didn’t show up today,” said BU coach Liz Robertshaw. “I don’t know what happened. It’s like we didn’t even want to play. I didn’t see any energy out there, out of anyone. It was frustrating to watch. I’m not happy right now, not at all and I’m going to make sure they know that. And they better not be happy either.”
Redshirt junior Taryn VanThoft won the draw for Loyola to start the game, and attack Hannah Schmitt got the scoring started early, giving the Greyhounds a 1-0 lead just 16 seconds into the game.
Loyola dominated the game early on, continuing to fire shot after shot. Attack Annie Thomas added another goal for the Greyhounds at the 24:47 mark to open up 2-0.
BU sophomore midfielder Ally Adams would respond, notching two goals in short span to knot up the game at two with 22:54 remaining in the half.
The tie was short-lived though, and the Greyhounds answered back with two quick goals off the stick of attack Kara Burke and Thomas to regain a 4-2 advantage with 22:17 left in the opening frame.
A little more than a minute later, junior attack Lindsay Weiner scored to pull the Terriers to within one goal of Loyola.
After the goal, play became a bit sloppy, as both teams exchanged multiple possessions. The Greyhounds picked up their play, though, and Schmitt laced one to the back of the net at the 16:04 mark. Burke and Thomas added one free-position goal each just moments later to make it 7-3 in favor of the visitors.
Five minutes later, BU countered with two goals of its own. Senior attack Elizabeth Morse and redshirt sophomore attack Mallory Collins each added a goal to cut Loyola’s lead back to two goals.
But every time it felt like the Terriers were back in the game, the Greyhounds had an answer. Midfielder Sydney Thomas fired a shot to the back of the net at the 8:13 mark, and midfielder Marlee Paton had two goals of her own to finish the half, extending the Greyhounds’ lead to 10-5 at the break.
“We were in the game,” Robertshaw said. “But those three goals to end the half really hurt us. It seemed like my girls started to hang their hands, and I didn’t like that, not one bit. Our defense let us down a little bit at the end of the half, and they need to stay sharp, for all 30 minutes.”
To start the second half, BU won the draw control, but turned the ball over on the opening possession, which led to Paton scoring her third goal of the game. This pushed Loyola’s lead to six goals, the Greyhounds’ biggest lead of the game at that point.
The Terriers came back with two quick ones, as Adams and Weiner took advantage of the Loyola’s sloppy defense to make the score 11-7 with just over 27 minutes left in the contest.
“Once we cut the lead to four goals and started playing better, I thought we had a chance,” Robertshaw said. “But we just couldn’t stay focused, we needed to keep putting pressure on them. It eventually came back to hurt us, but when you’re making a comeback, you have to take some risks.”
In the 26th minute the two teams exchanged goals to bring the score to 12-8.
Loyola would then go on to finish the game on a 7-0 run with seven different Greyhounds scoring during the stretch. Throughout the game, 11 different Greyhounds notched goals.
Overall, the Greyhounds posted a clear advantage in shots, outshooting BU 43-12. The Greyhounds also posted a 22-9 advantage in draw control.
The win guaranteed the Greyhounds at least a share of the Patriot League regular season title and a first-round bye in the Patriot League Tournament. The loss for the Terriers added to their frustration, as they have now lost three games in a row.
“We need to get back on track,” Robertshaw said. “I don’t know what we’re doing out there, that second half was just terrible. A 7-0 run? Really? We can’t let that happen. I may be happy about the attacks, they finally seem to be playing better and with more consistency. But if we want to win going forward, our defense needs to pick it up.”
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