Honor thy senior

On an emotional Senior Day, the Boston University field hockey team honored its graduating class with a 2-0 win over Harvard University in its final regular-season game of the year at Jack Barry Field.
Blustery and chilly weather could not prevent the celebratory salute to seniors Lizzie Perreault, Hayly Ross and Holly Wiles to a cold, but cheerful home crowd.
‘It was a good team win,’ BU coach Sally Starr said. ‘I was proud of the way the girls competed with the elements being so tough. I thought our captains, our three seniors, played exceptionally well. I’m pleased that we’re able to walk off the field with a good, quality win.’
Ross started her own party by putting the Terriers (9-9) on the board first, redirecting a shot inside the near post on a pass from junior Gabby Hajjar in the 12th minute.
Hajjar doubled the home team’s lead with less than four minutes remaining in the first half. Sophomore Maryette Stuart gathered her own rebound and slung the ball to the front of the cage where Hajjar was waiting for a shoo-in tally.
The Crimson (6-9) dropped its fifth consecutive game and fourth straight against BU.
Sophomore goalkeeper Kim Kastuk stopped all five shots she faced and classmate Amanda Smith finished the last five minutes in goal for the Terriers’ sixth shutout of the season. In the opposing cage, Harvard goalkeeper Kylie Stone made three saves.
Offensively, the Terriers outshot the Crimson, 10-8, and controlled the ball with pointed passing. However, Harvard held a 7-1 advantage in corners. Although they did not allow a goal on a corner, the trend continues to be an exasperating problem for the Terriers.
‘We really need to look at why we’re giving up so many penalty corners,’ Starr said. ‘Once again, our corner defense was excellent, but we’re giving up too many of those opportunities for our opponents. On the flip side of that, we only got one corner. We really need to look at why we’re not doing a better job of manufacturing corners.’
Despite the corner shortcomings, the Terriers displayed the consistency, teamwork, urgency and desperation their coach desired.
‘What I really liked about today was our collective energy as a team,’ Starr said. ‘From the minute we walked onto the field until the end of the game, you could tell that we were ready to play. We were excited to play and we played hard. It wasn’t always pretty hockey, but I really liked how we competed today, the collective energy of competing hard together.’