The No. 14 Boston University field hockey team will travel to Washington, D.C. on Saturday to face No. 20 American University in its final game of the regular season.
The Patriot League matchup is invaluable to both sides, as the winner of the game will finish with the first spot in the conference tournament.
“It’s a really exciting game and I’m really proud of our team to have positioned ourselves to be in a situation to compete for the regular season conference championship and to compete for the right to host the conference tournament as well,” BU head coach Sally Starr said.
The Eagles (11-5, 5-0 Patriot League) were the first team with an automatic bid to the Patriot League Tournament after sporting an undefeated conference record thus far.
The Terriers (11-5, 4-1 Patriot League) come into this contest following a 3-1 victory on Tuesday night against the College of the Holy Cross.
The game began on Friday, Oct. 21, but was suspended in the 42nd minute of play due to two lightning delays. The Terriers led 2-1 prior to the game being suspended, as sophomore forward Kara Enoch and senior midfielder Hester van der Laan netted goals for the Terriers.
The Terriers would tack on a third goal to finalize the score 3-1 score on Tuesday afternoon. Enoch scored the final goal in the 56th minute of play on an assist from van der Laan. The goal was Enoch’s fourth of the year, giving her double digit points for the regular season.
Between the start and finish of the Turnpike Trophy victory over Holy Cross, the Terriers fell to No. 2 Syracuse University 2-1 on Sunday. BU was held scoreless until 3:54 remaining, when senior forward Amanda Cassera scored on a rebound off of her own shot to put the Terriers on the board.
Cassera’s ninth goal of the season increased her career scoring mark to 85 points, good for sixth on BU’s all-time list alongside Pam Spuehler.
The Eagles are coming off a 6-1 defeat at the hands of No. 9 University of Delaware, a game in which American matched its lowest scoring output of the season. Freshman Emily Hogan scored the Eagles’ lone goal of the match, her fourth tally in just five games played.
The American offensive attack is led by senior Natalie Konerth, who has 12 goals. The Huntingtown, Maryland native is second in the conference in points with 25.
Teammate Rafaela Rubas is next in line with 22 points. The sophomore from Vienna, Austria has eight goals and six assists on the year.
Starr said she knows that she and her side must work to contain the talents of Hogan, Konerth and Rubas on Saturday if they hope to emerge victorious.
“They’re an excellent attacking a team, a really well coached team,” Starr said.
Cassera leads the way for the Terriers, who are 3-2 on the road in 2016. Cassera’s 18 points are good for fifth in the conference. Van der Laan and fellow senior forward Taylor Blood are the sixth and eighth leading scorers in the league, respectively.
“We want to continue with our outstanding defense that we’ve been playing,” Starr said. “We’ve really been holding some very good teams to low [shot totals] as well as low attack penalty corners. On the flipside of that, in our attacking side of the field we really need to take advantage of our opportunities and really try to create a lot of goal scoring chances.”
American goalkeeper Maura Jacobs has allowed 27 goals in 13 games, good for a 2.03 goals-against average.
BU senior goalkeeper Cammy Jensen leads the Patriot League with a 1.20 goals-against average. The senior from Escondido, California has let up just 20 goals in 16 contests.
The Terriers will have all hands on deck in the District this weekend with the hopes of securing the top spot in the Patriot League Tournament.
“American is an outstanding team and it should be a really great hockey game,” Starr said. “We’ve been working hard we’ll continue to work hard to improve on the things we need to improve on, and go there and compete to the best of our ability to try and win a regular season championship.”
