A second-half offensive surge for the No. 13 Boston University field hockey team came too late against No. 3 Syracuse University, as it fell 2-1 to the reigning national champions Sunday.
The game, which took place at the Terriers’ (10-5, 3-1 Patriot League) New Balance Field, was all Orange (13-2) in the first half.
The Orange outshot the home side 8-1 and controlled possession for long stretches, which put immense pressure on BU’s defense.
Despite the disparity in shots, Syracuse only scored twice in the half, courtesy of goals from sophomore Jennifer Bleakney and junior Lies Lagerweij.
Lagerweij’s goal was particularly impressive, as it was a backhand shot attempted while falling down. The Delft, Netherlands native still got it past BU senior goalkeeper Cammy Jensen for her team-leading 12th of the year.
The BU offense seemed to always be one step behind the Orange for much of the first half, and even when BU gained possession, it committed a number of turnovers to lose possession.
The second half saw a complete change in the Terriers’ offense, however, which came alive and created numerous opportunities to score.
“Really pleased with the second half,” BU head coach Sally Starr said. “I think if we played the first half like we played the second half, we might have had a different outcome here. We knew we had to defend them well outside of the circle. We really tried to make the hash marks our wall and play them aggressively.”
The defensive pressure enabled the offense to open up the field and create more chances, as they created five penalty corners through the final 35 minutes.
Despite all these chances, the Terriers were unable to execute, as the score was still 2-0 with five minutes left to play.
Starr’s frustration was evident when discussing her team’s missed opportunities.
“I think that at times we were strong and confident on the ball and really using our skills, and there’s other times that we were a little tentative,” she said. “You can’t be tentative against a team like Syracuse.”
Examples of the team’s lack of execution occurred throughout the game, from a bobbled corner pass to a breakaway where the forward decided to pass the ball, which was intercepted by Syracuse goalkeeper Regan Spencer.
However, a lob shot by senior forward Amanda Cassera in the game’s final moments just got past Spencer and into the back of the net, pulling the Terriers to within a goal.
After that, the offense was unable to muster much of an attack, as the Orange ran out the clock, crushing any Terrier comeback attempt.
Jensen, an Escondido, California native, still had another great performance in the loss, stopping nine Orange shots on Sunday. She is currently seventh in the nation in goals against average with an impressive 1.20, one-hundredth of a point behind Spencer and Monmouth University goaltender Christen Piersanti.
Looking ahead, the Terriers will play the rest of Friday’s weather-shortened contest against the College of the Holy Cross on Tuesday.
BU was up 2-1 thanks to goals from sophomore forward Kara Enoch and senior midfielder Hester van der Laan before play was halted in the 42nd minute.
Starr was adamant that there was still room for improvement as her team nears postseason play.
“The team needs to continue working on execution of our corners,” Starr said. “That’s something that can be better and needs to be better. Continue working on our open-field tackling and continue to play more consistent and with discipline.”
