The Boston University women’s lacrosse team will be looking for its second consecutive Patriot League win in its game against Colgate University Wednesday afternoon, following a 16-8 victory over Lafayette College last Saturday.
With defeats in their first games of the season, both the Terriers (3-4, 1-1 Patriot League) and Leopards (3-6, 0-2 Patriot League) were looking to register their first points in the conference.
BU, who was on the road for the fifth time this season, squared off against a Lafayette team that was in the midst of a two-game losing streak.
The home advantage was inconsequential for the Leopards, as they crumbled to the resurgent Terriers at Fisher Stadium.
After a 15-8 loss to Lehigh University in her team’s Patriot League opener, BU head coach Liz Robertshaw spoke about the need for the upperclassmen to take more responsibility.
Her message was heard loud and clear by the seniors and by senior attack Avery Donahoe, in particular.
Donahoe was one of 10 goal scorers for BU, with a game-high six goals. This was her fourth hat trick of the season, and the second time she has netted six goals in the last three games.
Junior midfielder Kaitlin Belval had an impressive performance as well, bagging three assists and one goal.
“All six of our seniors have taken it really personally to do better and to get the team ready to go,” Robertshaw said.
A big problem for the Terriers this season has been their first-half showing.
Against No. 6 Boston College earlier in February and against Lehigh (6-4, 1-1 Patriot League), the Terriers were outshot and turned over possession largely in the first half.
On Saturday however, a vastly improved BU side registered 23 of its 39 shots in the first frame alone.
“We played really fast and we want to continue that,” Robertshaw said of her team’s performance. “We had some great defensive stops early on in the game, and that is something we haven’t seen in the previous games.”
Sophomore attack Kailey Conry extended her point streak to 22 games with an assist. With 2.43 assists per game, the Needham native sits atop the leaderboard in the conference.
Senior goalkeeper Christine Laible, who had been replaced midway through the game against Lehigh, came back strong and made 12 saves against Lafayette.
Colgate (6-3, 1-1 Patriot League) will be looking to build on its victory over the College of the Holy Cross Saturday.
In a tight game at Beyer-Small ‘76 Field, the Raiders held on for a 9-8 win after taking an early lead in the first half.
Sophomore attack Payton Gabriel grabbed a pair of goals to extend her goal streak to nine games.
With 14 goals, Gabriel is behind only senior midfielder Haley O’Hanlon, who leads the team with 27 and boasts seven hat tricks this season.
“Colgate is a very aggressive dodging team,” Robertshaw said. “They go one versus one very hard and that’s something we need to have locked down on defense. They have played in a lot of tight games, so they are a start-to-finish team.”
The Terriers will have to watch out for the Raiders’ sophomore goalkeeper Samantha Croston.
The goalkeeper tallied eight saves and five ground balls against Holy Cross (3-7, 1-1 Patriot League). Croston is currently first in saves per game (9.78), second in goal save percentage (.518) and third in goals against average (8.92) in the league.
BU and Colgate are tied in the all-time series at two games apiece since the Terriers joined the Patriot League in 2014.
Wednesday’s matchup will be the Terriers’ first visit to Hamilton since 2016.
“We have to ensure that we go out fast and play strong for 60 minutes and we really continue to find scoring nooks,” Robertshaw said.
