The Boston University women’s lacrosse team dominated Colgate University in an 18-8 victory at Nickerson Field on Wednesday evening in its Patriot League home opener.
Following a 16-11 loss at Loyola University Maryland last week, the Terriers (4-5, 2-1 Patriot League) set out to reverse course against the Raiders (4-5, 1-2 Patriot League). BU began with improvements on offensive, as they struck a 14-0 scoring run between the first and second half. The Terriers’ success against Colgate, however, is equally attributed to their defensive presence, thanks to senior goaltender Caroline Meegan.
“We know [Meegan] is back there to make big saves,” said BU head coach Liz Robertshaw. “She has been a huge backbone for us, and it’s been great.”
Meegan entered the contest as second in the nation in saves with an average of 12 stops per game. She finished with nine saves on Wednesday.
Although last week the Terriers blew a five-goal lead against Loyola (4-6, 3-0 Patriot League) and let up 13 goals in the second half, Robertshaw was impressed with the dominance of her upperclassmen defenders and attributes much of their productivity to the presence of Meegan in the net.
“I think [Meegan] allows our defenders to be more aggressive on ball, so that if they do come up with a foul, she’s been working on her free positions, and she’s going to continue that,” Robertshaw said.
Seniors Janelle Macone and Charlotte Castronovo led the Terrier defense against Colgate and at Loyola, despite the loss.
“The [defensive success] is a senior mindset,” Robertshaw said. “The starting five defenders had a really good game against Loyola, and we were soft in other areas. We said we needed them to keep playing that way to allow our younger middies and attackers to have more opportunity to play and take risks and even make mistakes, and I think they’re doing a really good job with that.”
Meegan provides a level of comfort not only to defenders, but also the attack due to her consistency in the net.
“She allows our attackers to take more shots because they know if they happen to miss one or two that she is going to come up with a big save,” Robertshaw said.
On Wednesday night, the BU offense recorded its most goals all season with 18, beating its previous high of 13 goals in its victory against Bucknell University.
“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.”
Sophomore midfielders Kelly Mathews and Kaitlin Belval both scored twice while junior attacker Avery Donahoe scored three times in the Colgate victory. Sophomore defender Tonianne Magnelli recorded four goals and senior attacker Elisabeth Jayne scored a team-high five goals. Freshman midfielder Christine Carugati scored her first collegiate goal to make the final score 18-8.
On the defensive end, BU held Colgate’s top scorer, senior Isabel Kreitler, to just two goals.
The goals that did sneak by Meegan were in large part due to Colgate’s ability to take advantage of free position shots.
“We put them on the line too many times,” Robertshaw said. “That is something that we just have to continue to work through.”
On Saturday, BU will take on another Patriot League opponent in Lehigh University, and Robertshaw hopes her team continues to play as aggressive as they did on Wednesday.
“We have to continue to challenge [our defense] and make sure our attackers are driving more in practice, so that they have to play good defense and not give up those fouls,” Robertshaw said. “[Lehigh] is a huge conference game.”
