Coming off of a thrilling 12-11 victory over the United States Military Academy, the Boston University women’s lacrosse team will take a break from
Patriot League action and head to New Hampshire for an afternoon contest on Wednesday.
Saturday afternoon’s game was an important win for the Terriers (7-7, 5-3 Patriot League), and it improved BU’s record to 2-0 in the all-time series against the Black Knights (5-11, 1-7 Patriot League).
Even though BU won the game, head coach Liz Robertshaw said she felt the Terriers could have played better against Army.
“We were a little reactive, and we didn’t come out with the same aggressive mentality to start the game the way we wanted to play it,” Robertshaw said. “I was impressed our team found a way to win and that they battled for the entire time, but I think it was not our best start to the game.”
However, Robertshaw said the game against Army helped prepare the Terriers for Wednesday’s contest.
“[The game] has shown us what we need to do better,” Robertshaw said. “We need to come out faster [and] make sure we know our team game plan inside and out and take the digressions out … so that [on Wednesday] we are just focused on [University of New Hampshire] and coming out and playing the game we want to play.”
The Terriers are looking to continue their momentum and extend their current winning streak to three games. Freshman attacker Kailey Conry has contributed 11 points over the last two games. She is currently leading the Terriers with 48 points.
Last season, the Terriers dominated UNH (3-12) in a 14-7 victory at Nickerson Field. Ally Adams, who graduated in 2016, was key to the Terrier win by scoring two goals in a five-point swing at the end of the first half. Senior attacker Taylor Hardison led BU with four points, including three assists.
Hardison ranks second on the team in points this season. The top five are rounded out by Conry, senior attacker Elisabeth Jayne and junior attackers Mickenzie Larivee and Avery Donahoe. Larivee and Jayne lead the team in goals with 32 and 26, respectively, and have been key players all season long for the Terriers.
UNH does have several standout players that the Terriers must contain. Junior Krissy Schafer leads the Wildcats with 29 goals, followed closely behind by senior Devon Croke with 25.
In the matchup last year, Schafer and Croke combined for a total of three points. Croke scored two of her 17 goals in this contest, while Schafer added a goal. It’ll be essential for the Terriers to slow down the attacking duo if BU hopes to win.
“We have to play good one-on-one defense,” Robertshaw said. “Croke is a power player and that is someone we need to lock down. Schafer is an inside player who cuts hard, is quick, and is aggressive on draw control. We want to limit the look she gets.”
Larivee scored two goals to go along with an assist for a total of three points during the matchup last season.
Senior goalkeeper Caroline Meegan is also looking for similar success against New Hampshire. Last season she picked up the win for the Terriers while stopping six shots. This season she has started every game for the Terriers and has a .512 save percentage to go along with seven wins. Meegan currently leads all of Division I with an average of 12.43 saves per game.
Robertshaw said Meegan will need to be ready to face shots from all directions, and that her team cannot afford to focus too much on any individual player.
“Anyone can score,” Robertshaw said. “They don’t necessarily have the separation stats the way we do with our top four players. They have a lot of people that are scoring and we need to make sure that our team is ready to stop any player going to the cage.”