The Boston University field hockey team split weekend encounters against the Colgate University Raiders and the Duke University Blue Devils. The Terriers began their weekend with a 5-1 victory over Colgate(2-9, 0-3 Patriot League) and followed with a 5-1 loss at home against Duke (9-1) on Sunday.
Freshman forward Ailsa Connolly notched her seventh goal of the season and junior back Ally Hammel tallied her first three goals of the season over the weekend.
BU (6-5, 2-0 Patriot League) was extremely successful with corners on Friday against Colgate, scoring three times on seven attempts. The first came in the 11th minute when Hammel scored her first goal of the season, giving the Terriers an early 1-0 lead.
Connolly made it 2-0 Terriers with just 81 seconds remaining in the first half. She dribbled around a defender and tucked a shot just inside the right post.
Two goals early in the second half put BU out of Colgate’s reach. The first came in the 44th minute from sophomore midfielder Kiley Gallagher, who sent the shot into the back of the net after a deflected pass fell right into her strick.
Just four minutes later, the Terriers converted on another corner and this time it was junior midfielder Maika Akroyd who found the back of the net for the first time in her career.
Colgate’s lone goal came from senior midfielder Caroline Schaefer in the 50th minute.
Hammel would put the finishing touches on a successful afternoon for the Terriers in the 67th minute. Her second goal of the game also came off a corner. Freshman back Kathryn Scheerer got the assist, her first career collegiate point.
Head coach Sally Starr said she was happy with her team’s performance.
“We got the conference win on the road and you don’t take any of those for granted,” Starr said. “It’s 0-0 and you’re at another team’s home and we have to get out and play well and we did that.”
On Sunday, the Terriers found themselves down early against Duke. As the Blue Devils took the lead in the sixth minute when forward Rose Tynan scored.
Duke made it 2-0 in the 14th minute when forward Erin Scherrer capitalized on a miscommunication amongst the Terrier defense
The Blue Devils took a 3-0 lead off a corner in the 19th minute. The corner was played to the top of the circle and Alyssa Chillano’s shot was deflected goal wards and in by Stephanie Pezzuti, her first goal of the season.
The Terriers got a goal back in the 27th minute, capitalizing on their first corner of the game. The corner was put into the danger area by senior midfielder Kali Shumock and in position for Hammel who found the back of the net. Hammel’s third goal in two games got the Terriers back within striking distance.
Duke took a 3-1 lead going into the second half, with the Blue Devils outshooting the Terriers 7-1.
Freshman goalkeeper Millie Baker started the game, and for the first time all season played all 70 minutes.
Starr said she went with Baker the entire game based on previous performances.
“I felt that Millie was a little bit stronger and I gave her the opportunity,” she said. “We’ll continue to evaluate. We’ll evaluate this game and evaluate next week in practice and take it game to game.”
The Blue Devils regained the three goal lead in the the 53rd minute. Senior forward Ashley Kristen tallied her fourth goal of the season, with Tynan registering the assist.
In 65th minute, Duke made it a 5-1. Tynan scored her second of the game and team leading ninth of the season.
Starr said she saw some positive results from Sunday.
“We played one of the top teams in the country and I think we generated our fair share of attack to really keep this game closer than it was,” Starr said “Overall, more positives than negatives. To hold a team like Duke to only three corners, you’re doing something pretty well.”
