After recording a commanding 15-5 victory against the University of Massachusetts-Amherst on Wednesday, the Boston University lacrosse team takes its game on the road tomorrow, facing the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. at 1 p.m.
The Terrier (1-0) offense must continue to produce this weekend, as BU will need to keep up with, if not outmatch, a strong William & Mary (2-1) squad that has produced an average of 14.7 goals in its three games this season.
But BU coach Liz Robertshaw said that it will be her team’s defense that must handle the Tribe’s offensive outpouring this Saturday.
‘Defensively, we need to bring the game we had in the second half [against UMass] to the entire game against William & Mary,’ Robertshaw said. ‘They’re a very sharp team. They go hard in the midfield and they’re hard on the attacking end. I need to see our extenders step up and deny a lot of those looks at cage that William & Mary has been getting the past couple of games.’
In the second half against UMass, the Terriers limited the Minutewomen to just two goals on 12 shots.
But it’s almost a certainty that the Terriers’ offense will still be rolling come tomorrow, given that BU had nine different players record at least a point Wednesday. Robertshaw was excited to see her team’s depth, but sees room for improvement.
‘We want to continue [scoring goals] and to keep building upon that,’ Robertshaw said. ‘I want more players to be options for us. It makes us more dangerous, and it makes it harder to keep a team like that out if everyone shows up and everyone takes those good looks at cage. We’re going to keep working on that from our low attackers all the way down to our midfield defenders.’
In addition to two goals from last year’s leading point-scorer, senior co-captain Sarah Dalton, BU got a six-point effort from junior Xan Weitzel, who recorded a hat trick and three assists.
Even two freshmen broke into collegiate scoring against UMass, with two of the Terrier tallies coming from freshmen Hannah Frey and Annie Stookesberry.
Robertshaw will be counting on both of them against William & Mary.
‘Hannah started for us, and I thought she looked very confident and comfortable in the game and had two nice looks at cage for goals,’ Robertshaw said. ‘[Stookesberry] came right off the bench and literally saw the opening, took it and scored the goal. I’m looking for her to be that momentum player. She can come in and do well for us.’
One area Robertshaw hopes to improve this weekend is the slow start the Terriers had against UMass. The Terriers didn’t get on the board until 11 minutes into the first half. Robertshaw attributes this to the Terriers’ failure to win draws and possess the ball.
‘We weren’t winning the draws against UMass in the first couple [minutes], so we let them have possession,’ Robertshaw said. ‘That’s something we’re really going to have to work hard on this next game. We need to work hard and come up with the draws and really start taking it down and take better shots. If we can get the ball in our sticks, get the ball to the cage and finish on our shots early, we will have a faster-paced attack and we’ll look a lot better.
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