The No. 9 Boston University field hockey team came away from this weekend’s series against Lafayette College and the No. 3 University of Connecticut with its perfect record gone.
In the first game of the weekend, the Terriers (7-2, 1-1 Patriot League) were upset 2-1 in a shootout against the Leopards (6-3, 1-0 Patriot League) Friday night at Lafayette’s Rappolt Field in Easton, Pennsylvania.
On Sunday afternoon, the Terriers then fell to the Huskies (9-0) by a score of 5-1 at New Balance Field. It was just the second time in the last five games that the Huskies did not record a shutout.
“It was a disappointing loss, and we need to use this game as a catapult for playing a lot better,” BU head coach Sally Starr said of the game against Lafayette.
In the 22nd minute, Lafayette senior Amanda Magadan dribbled in from the left side and netted her third goal of the season to put the Leopards up 1-0.
Lafayette went into halftime leading the Terriers 1-0 and outshooting them 5-2.
“It was a combination of a lot of things. An off day for us — a lot of individual players struggled, and we struggled collectively as a team,” Starr said. “Corner execution let us down again, [and] I think we needed to be better there. Our set pieces needed to be better.”
BU would tie the score with less than five minutes to go in regulation when senior midfielder Hester van der Laan scored off her own rebound. Two overtimes later, though, the score remained tied at one goal apiece, and the teams went into a shootout.
Junior forward Grace Boston scored first in the shootout to give the Terriers a 1-0 lead. Magadan followed with a conversion for Lafayette to tie the shootout at one.
Senior forward Taylor Blood then countered to put the Terriers up 2-1 in the shootout. Blood’s goal was followed up by a tally by Lafayette sophomore Kristen Taylor.
After BU senior goalkeeper Cammy Jensen saved an initial shot by Leopard Aliza Furneaux, the senior capitalized on a rebound and buried it to give her team a 3-2 shootout advantage and, eventually, the 2-1 victory.
BU outshot Lafayette 6-3 in the second half and 11-9 overall, but converted its lone goal on one of 13 penalty corner chances in the contest.
The Terrier defense continued its strong play against Lafayette, though.
“We are defending well,” Starr said. “We need to do a better job with our pressing to keep the ball in our attacking zone.”
On Sunday, the visiting Huskies scored the game’s first goal when forward Charlotte Veitner buried a goal from the left side in the ninth minute. Five minutes later, sophomore Amanda Collins netted her seventh goal of the year to put UConn up by a pair.
The Huskies extended their lead to 3-0 as senior Darby Smith converted a shot falling to her left in the 24th minute of play for her first goal of the season.
“We didn’t defend well particularly in the first 25 minutes of the game” Starr said. “We were just soft defensively [by] allowing them to receive [and] giving them too much space in the circle.”
Blood fed junior fullback/midfielder Allie Renzi for her fourth goal of the season to get the Terriers on the board 15 minutes into the second half.
Though the Terriers came away from this weekend no longer undefeated, Starr was proud of her team’s efforts.
“The hockey we played today, particularly through our midfield and our attacking third field, was outstanding,” Starr said. “On offense, we did a lot of good things. To get that many corners against this team, you’re doing some good stuff. They’re undefeated. They play a good schedule. I was really pleased with our attack today.”
