The No. 17 Boston University field hockey team split its weekend series with a 9-0 victory over Colgate University on Saturday and a 5-1 loss to No. 2. Syracuse University on Sunday.
The Saturday afternoon victory over the Raiders (0-10, 0-2 Patriot League) represented the Terriers’ (6-3, 2-0 Patriot League) most dominant road victory in program history. The impressive offensive showing was evidenced by a 33-3 shots differential and two goals apiece from junior forward Taylor Blood and junior midfielder Hester van der Laan.
Fellow junior forwards Sara Martineau and Madeline McClain also found success with a goal each. Other goals were contributed by senior midfielder/forward Sofi Laurito, sophomore midfielder/forward Grace Boston and freshman forward Kara Enoch, who scored her first career goal.
The goal-scoring fest opened up with a goal from Blood on a pass from freshman forward Ally Hammel in the ninth minute. Her goal was followed by van der Laan’s first goal, which came off a penalty stroke.
By halftime, the Terriers already held the contest firmly in their control with a 4-0 lead.
The second half did not slow the Terriers’ offensive attack. van der Laan netted her second penalty stroke, for a team-leading 16 points on the season, followed by Enoch’s goal.
Laurito added the seventh goal off a penalty corner, her fourth tally of the season. The lead was extended when Martineau found twine for the first time this season, assisted by van der Laan.
The scoring finally came to an end with 4:45 left in the game when McClain scored off a penalty corner.
Equally as impressive as the Terriers’ offensive onslaught was the play in the cage by junior goalkeeper Cammy Jensen, who saved both of the shots she faced, and the debut of freshman goalkeeper Kathleen Keegan who played in the final seven minutes of the contest.
Since joining the Patriot League in 2013, Colgate has yet to defeat BU. The Raiders’ goalie, Maria Krull, leads the conference in saves, an indication of how many shots their defense allows per game.
“We generated a lot of offense,” said BU coach Sally Starr. “Their goalie was outstanding for Colgate. … We pressed well, we were able to control the play and we were able to generate a lot of goal-scoring opportunities. We had to work for the goals that we scored because their goalie was so outstanding.”
Sunday’s affair, though, a rematch of last year’s NCAA Tournament first-round matchup, was not as kind to the Terriers. The Orange (9-0) was carried by a four-goal second half and a seven-point game by sophomore Roos Weers in handing BU its third loss.
The game was just 1-0 Syracuse at the half, but the floodgates opened in the second half. Jensen had a strong afternoon, making a career-high ten saves, but it was not enough to prevent the 5-1 loss.
Hammel continued her impressive freshman campaign with her third career goal, the lone tally for the Terriers on the afternoon. She did not score until 3:23 remained in the second half to break the Syracuse shutout.
The Orange outshot the Terriers 25-7 overall and held an 8-1 penalty corner advantage. Senior Emma Russell scored two goals for the Orange along with three from Weers.
“We played an outstanding team,” Starr said. “I’ve coached a long time as you know and I’ve seen many teams that are outstanding, and Syracuse is. They are the real deal. They’re outstanding on attack, they’re outstanding on defense. They were just an outstanding team today.”
BU’s three-game winning streak came to a close Sunday, but it remains in a tight race for the Patriot League conference lead.
“If we hadn’t played that caliber of competition at all, then it might be more difficult,” Starr said of her squad’s loss against Syracuse. “But we really knew what we were getting into. They were just the better team today. We will be a better team in the long run for what we were able to learn from our loss today, and more so than what we were able to learn from our win yesterday.”
