The Boston University women’s lacrosse team will look to get back on track on Saturday when it travels to Bucknell University for its Patriot League regular season finale.
The Terriers (6-8, 4-3 Patriot League) will look to snap a three-game losing skid against a Bucknell team (2-14, 0-7 Patriot League) that is riding a 12-game winless streak of their own. The Bison’s 14.04 goals-against average ranks worst in the Patriot League and 96th out of the 107 Division I lacrosse schools.
Flashes of talent have been apparent all season long for BU, but finding consistent on-field performers and vocal leaders has been difficult with just one game remaining before the Patriot League Tournament.
“Our top players don’t step up for us consistently,” said BU coach Liz Robertshaw.
Without a consistent leader to count on night in and night out, Robertshaw said she looks for her team to outhustle the opponent, which she said is the easiest way to ensure victory. To Robertshaw, draw controls, turnover margin and ground balls, or “hustle stats” as she calls them, are the bread and butter of working hard in women’s lacrosse.
“They are the most important part of our game,” she said. “It is a category that I take a lot of pride in.”
With the way the team has been playing as of late, hard work will remain at the forefront of the Terriers’ approach when they face off against the basement-dwelling Bison.
“We need the ball in our stick and we need to be a strong attacking unit and we need to win draw controls,” Robertshaw said.
Draw controls will play a crucial part in the regular season finale for both teams, but Robertshaw said she is more worried about what her team does following draw control wins.
“The biggest thing I expect out of my team is possessing the ball better and being more aggressive going to the cage,” she said.
The Bison rank second in the Patriot League in draw controls won with 11.5 per game. This is mainly due to the fact that they have allowed so many goals, leading to more opportunities at the dot.
As far as the Terriers go, they have had several different players step up this season on the offensive end, like redshirt junior midfielder Mallory Collins, junior midfielder Ally Adams and junior midfielder Jill Horka.
However, none of them have been reliable enough to count on every game, Robertshaw said. Robertshaw stressed that the team needs to rely on each other to get good team production on the offensive end.
“I would like to see more production in general from our crease players,” she said.
One consistent stronghold for the Terriers lately has been sophomore goalkeeper Caroline Meegan. Despite the losing streak, Meegan elevated her game even under added pressure she faced recently, registering back-to-back games with over a .500 save percentage.
Particularly in Wednesday’s 9-8 overtime loss to the University of New Hampshire, Meegan rose to the occasion by stopping all five free-possession looks for the Wildcats. She will have an easier task against a Bucknell offense that ranks second-worst in the Patriot League in both goals per game and shots on goal, with 8.12 and 19.81, respectively.
Despite Patriot League woes this season for the Bison, Robertshaw said Bucknell will have something to play for on its final home game of the season and Senior Day.
“I think they are going to come after us,” she said. “I don’t think this team is defeated. We need to do our job and focus on us.”
