The Boston University women’s lacrosse team fell behind early in its game at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Wednesday and, despite a late rally, suffered an 11-8 loss.
After enjoying their first win of the season against Fairfield University this past weekend, the Terriers (1-2) eyed a second-straight win when they battled the Minutemen (3-0).
BU head coach Liz Robertshaw, fresh off winning her 100th game this past weekend, said her team went into the matchup trying to slow down Erika Eipp, but that game plan didn’t come to fruition. The senior scored with five goals, besting sophomore goaltender Christine Laible with each attempt.
“We talked about how we wanted to slow down Erika Eipp with how we were going to play her, but I just don’t think we followed through on that game plan,” Robertshaw said. “We gave her too many opportunities, and she’s an All-American kid and she’s going to take advantage of that.”
Prior to their matchup with the Minutemen, the Terriers held the Stags (1-2) to just four first-half goals en route to a 13-8 triumph. Against UMass, BU allowed nine goals in the first half, with the first five coming from Eipp.
Eipp and attack Callie Santos scored nine of their team’s 11 goals, and the majority of their damage was done early on, making it difficult for the Terriers to mount a comeback.
“In the beginning of the game, we just started off a little flat,” Robertshaw said. “The coaching staff was trying to work the kids out of it. It’s pouring rain, it’s not your ideal game and I just think UMass came out with a little more fire, little more energy and we didn’t.”
Once BU got through sophomore midfielder Caroline English, it shored things up defensively, outscoring the Minutemen 7-6 after that point.
Senior midfielder Remy Nolan and sophomore attack Mickenzie Larivee each chipped in two goals, with the latter’s contributions helping the Terriers outscore UMass 4-2 in the second half.
“Luckily in the second half, we regrouped and we came back and played a better half, and we’re proud of that,” Robertshaw said. “But we can’t come out that slow if we’re going to try and knock off some of these high-caliber teams.”
Robertshaw noted that the game’s intensity was high, and that caused her team to come out even stronger in the second half.
“We came out a little more aggressive,” Robertshaw said. “I encouraged the players to keep shooting. It’d be easy for a team to just stop shooting if they weren’t finding success, but I actually encouraged them to do the opposite. I wanted them to keep challenging these goaltenders, and I think they did a better job of it.”
BU will have a week to avenge its loss at the hands of the Minutemen, as it travels to Dartmouth College next Tuesday. The Terriers will seek to have a better approach, as the Big Green (2-0) have outscored their opponents 29-12 thus far.
Robertshaw also addressed turnovers as an area her team needs to approve upon before it faces off with Dartmouth.
“It was something we addressed post-game,” Robertshaw said. “There were too many players that, whether it was for a moment or for the game, got a little unsure or unsteady with the game plan, and it really hurt us in a game like today.”
As the Terriers look to get back to .500 next week, Robertshaw wants her team to improve with each passing game.
“We just need to make sure we get better,” Robertshaw said. “We showed a lot more resilience than we had earlier against Boston College, so we’re getting better. We just have to make sure we’re still progressing and moving forward.”
