Coming off its stinging loss to No. 19 American University in the Patriot League Championship game Sunday, the No. 17 Boston University field hockey team received even worse news later in the day when the NCAA released the bracket for the NCAA Tournament.
Had the Terriers (13-6, 5-1 Patriot League) defeated the Eagles (14-6, 5-1 Patriot League), they would have automatically qualified for the national tournament.
Unfortunately, BU didn’t qualify for an at-large bid, meaning that, for the team’s eight seniors, their careers at BU have come to a close.
BU head coach Sally Starr praised them for their contributions both on and off the field.
“This class is going to be a really tough class to graduate,” Starr said. “For the tangibles and intangibles. They’re tremendous athletes, tremendous hockey players, but also just great teammates, great leaders, just a really special class.”
Excluding senior goalie Cammy Jensen, the senior class – consisting of midfielder Ellie Landsman, forward Madeline McClain, forward Taylor Blood, forward Sara Martineau, midfielder Hester van der Laan, forward Amanda Cassera and defender/midfielder Bea Baumberger Altirriba – combined to tally 25 goals and 21 assists this year and it is clear that they have left big shoes to fill for next year’s team.
Terriers claim three of five major PL awards
BU had five All-Patriot League players and took home the Defensive Player of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year and Coach of the Year awards last week.
Landsman won Defensive Player of the Year, as the Sudbury native was the anchor of a defense which held teams to a Patriot League-low 1.16 goals per game.
Starr lauded the senior’s efforts, even though what she does cannot readily be found on the stat sheet.
“She’s in the middle of the field, really helps to organize where we are doing, very vocal, really a strong tackler, strong competitor,” Starr said. “She keeps everyone organized around her so we’re playing really good team defense, our defense this year was outstanding, and Ellie was really a cornerstone of that.”
Van der Laan, who was second on the team in goals and fourth in the Patriot League, followed up her classmate’s accolade by taking home the Offensive Player of the Year Award.
Landsmen, Van der Laan, Blood and Jensen all made the All-Patriot League First Teams, while Cassera made the Second Team.
Not to be outdone by her players, Starr was named Patriot League Coach of the Year for a second consecutive season.
Despite a tough finish, promise for field hockey
Coming into the season, the Terriers started as the No. 17 team in the country and had high hopes of returning to the NCAA tournament after being bounced by the top-ranked University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2015.
The team started out on a seven-match winning streak, and were as high as No. 9 before losing 2-1 at Lafayette College (8-10, 3-3 Patriot League) Sept. 23.
That loss propelled the team to a four-game skid, before it leveled out and won five of its last six contests to win the Patriot League regular season title.
And at the end of it all, BU finished where it started, at No. 17 in the NCAA rankings, with a season that Starr and her squad should be proud of.
“This season has really been successful,” Starr said. “We had the one loss that we probably should not have had… that I think that ultimately hurt us, was our loss to Lafayette at the beginning of the season. We recovered from that through the season and had some really good wins and competed against some of the best teams in the country.”
