After a dominant win over the United States Military Academy, the Boston University women’s lacrosse team is eager to get its Patriot League Tournament swing under way.
Having earned a top-four seed in the conference, the Terriers (9-7, 6-3 Patriot League) are awaiting future results to determine when and who they will play. BU head coach Liz Robertshaw said once her team’s opponent is determined, it will continue to play hard and stick to its game plan.
“The key will be to play our game and focus on ourselves,” Robertshaw said. “We want to be aggressive and go into the games with a carefree attitude. It’s tough, because it’s easy to tighten up and lose sight of what the goal is.”
Robertshaw also said securing home field advantage for the quarterfinals is huge for her team, as it has added advantages.
“I think it’s great,” she said. “There are three possible teams that we could be playing, and those three teams have no idea whether they are hosting or traveling, whereas we know where we are going to be hosting, and we can use that to our advantage.”
Although the Terriers still finished with a top-four seed, Robertshaw said that she would have liked her team to earn a top-two seeding. The United States Naval Academy and Loyola University Maryland have secured the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, respectively.
“I would have liked to see us end up with a top-two seed, but it didn’t happen that way,” Robertshaw said. “And we still have home field advantage, which is the next best thing.”
Underclassmen beginning to blossom
In addition to making the playoffs, Robertshaw has been pleased with the development and growth of the freshmen and sophomore classes.
Kaitlin Belval, a freshman, has emerged as a promising midfielder. Mickenzie Larivee, a sophomore, has displayed her ability to be a premier goal-scorer and a reliable attack.
“We’ve seen some really great things from the freshmen and sophomores,” Robertshaw said. “If you look at the freshmen, you see a lot of playing time from Katie Belval and [freshman midfielder] Kelly Mathews, who have both gotten very comfortable with the game. They have been a spark for us at different times, especially when we needed them the most.”
Robertshaw also praised the sophomores, who have contributed 72 points thus far.
“You look at Maria Guerra, who has been a standout defensively,” Robertshaw said. “Then you have Mickenzie Larivee and Avery Donahoe on attack. They’ve been proven to put up points on the board, and it’s a big help. And then you see Sarah Andersen and Caroline English excel at the midfield position.”
Unfortunately, English went down with an injury halfway through the season, but Robertshaw said she has been progressing well.
Terriers learn from losses, triumphs
Throughout the regular season, the Terriers have constantly worked on smoothing out the inconsistencies in their game.
There were some rocky moments, as well as heartbreaking ones, but Robertshaw said her team has always managed to rebound and come together after a loss. This has surfaced in recent weeks, as BU has won four of its last five games.
“Obviously, you are always going to hope on having one of those undefeated seasons, whether it’s in the conference or overall,” Robertshaw said. “And that would have been great, but I really loved to see our team fight back in big moments.”
The Terriers’ resilience is also evidenced by the fact that they have only dropped back-to-back games once all season.
“We can’t take back the games that we lost,” Robertshaw said, “so our best option is to just learn from them and move on.”
