The Boston University women’s lacrosse team played a stellar game against Colgate University on Wednesday evening at Nickerson Field, winning 18-8 following a streak of 14 unanswered goals.
It was the third win in four games for the Terriers (4-5, 2-1 Patriot League) and easily their most dominant win of the season so far.
BU head coach Liz Robertshaw was pleased with her team’s performance.
“We really had a couple of heart-to-heart conversations after Loyola [University Maryland] in the locker room, and I said we needed more from people all over the field,” Robertshaw said. “I think Monday and Tuesday’s practice was awesome. They came in locked in, they came in focused, and they came in ready to go, so I felt like today could be a really good day, and I was happy with the production of all the players.”
The Terriers and Raiders (4-5, 1-2 Patriot League) were neck-and-neck in the early stages of the first half, as the two teams went back and forth for the first 15 minutes, with neither side developing a lead of more than one goal. Sophomore midfielder Kelly Mathews struck first for BU, scoring a free position goal less than a minute into the game.
Colgate responded with two straight goals, but BU recovered thanks to junior attacker Mickenzie Larivee, who tied it at two.
It looked as though both teams were in for a competitive back-and-forth battle, however, Colgate exploded with four straight goals. BU then fired up a run of its own just 12 seconds after the score reached 6-3, starting with Mathews’ second goal of the game. Sophomore midfielder Kaitlin Belval cut Colgate’s lead to one, and four minutes later sophomore defender Tonianne Magnelli tied the game.
BU did not stop there, as senior attacker Elisabeth Jayne gave the Terriers the lead just after the six-minute mark, and this margin expanded, as junior attacker Avery Donahoe scored to make it 8-6 BU. In addition, Belval, Jayne and Donahoe all struck again in the closing minutes of the first half, with BU ending on an 8-0 scoring run to take an 11-6 lead into the break.
After the game, coach Robertshaw had high praise for Jayne, who had the best game of her career, finishing with five goals and six points.
“I think she has a good amount of influence,” Robertshaw said. “I think she’s an aggressive and vocal leader out on the field. She wants and believes in [her teammates] to do good things.”
The Terriers got right back to work in the second half as both Donahoe and Jayne scored within the first minute. Jayne’s goal was her fourth of the game, and Donahoe’s was her third. BU then widened its lead at the 22:30 and 22:13 marks with a pair of Magnelli goals, making her the third player on the team to earn a hat trick at this point in the game.
With the score at 15-6, and BU’s unanswered goal tally at 12, Colgate brought in freshman goalie Samantha Croston for benched goalie Asil Asfour.
This slowed the Terriers, who did not score again until Jayne netted her fifth goal of the game at the 15:25 mark to make it 16-6. The Raiders had not scored since taking a 6-3 lead with just over 14 minutes remaining in the first half before finally breaking through at the 6:27 mark, as attacker Tara Atkinson scored her tenth goal of the season.
Colgate played well in the final minutes, but was never able to mount a real threat. After a strong bounce back performance from her team, Robertshaw credited the win to preparation.
“If [the players] are feeling good in practice, if they’re finding success, they come out with additional success,” Robertshaw said. “It’s not magic, it’s not a secret, it’s just that they need to play the way we want them to play in a game [during] a practice, and they all did that.
