The No. 12 Boston University lacrosse team capped off a tough spring break schedule with a decisive 19-7 win at George Mason University on Saturday afternoon.
With the win against BU coach Liz Robertshaw’s alma mater, the Terriers (3-3) fought back to .500 after dropping three-straight contests. Senior captain Sarah Dalton recorded seven points, including five goals, and junior Xan Weitzel added a goal and four assists to fuel the Terrier offense.
Senior Brittany Berger tallied the Patriots’ (2-3) first three goals as the teams exchanged scores to a 2-2 tie at the seven minute mark before the Terriers notched four consecutive goals to take a go in front and never look back. George Mason chipped away for the rest of the opening half to narrow the Terriers’ lead to 9-6. But after halftime, BU put the game away, unleashing 10 unanswered goals, starting with freshman Hannah Frey’s unassisted score.
In other spring break action, BU could not keep up with the No. 5 University of Pennsylvania, falling on the road Wednesday, 13-7, despite hat tricks from Dalton and junior McKinley Curro.
About 10 minutes into the game, the Quakers (5-0) held a 3-1 lead and had possession of the ball during much of that time. The Terriers then evened the match by the 19:10 mark thanks to two free-position goals from Curro and Dalton in under a minute.
Yet the Quakers sustained their attack and reeled off four unanswered goals from four different players. For the rest of the half, the only goal BU tallied came off a feed from senior captain Kelly Munroe to Frey as Penn went on a 7-1 run to end the period.
‘We needed more opportunities to put the ball in our sticks so we could put more points on the board,’ Robertshaw said. ‘We wanted to play our game and have a better attacking showing. We wanted to show that we could play hard and they weren’t going to run over us, and we did an average job at that. Penn’s a good, well-coached team.’
Senior goalkeeper Rachel Klein faced 31 shots from the home team, including 22 in the first frame, recording nine saves that prevented a rout. By comparison, Penn junior goalkeeper Emily Szelest saw 15 total shots, and her three saves all came in the first half. Yet after surrendering 35 goals in the prior two games, Klein weathered the barrage with much improvement.
‘[Klein] played great,’ Robertshaw said. ‘She had some great saves from eight meters, and it was a total turnaround from last game. Those [nine] saves and huge stops made a big difference in this game.’
On the first Saturday of spring break, BU came back from a five-goal deficit before falling to then-No. 12 Vanderbilt University, 19-18, at Nickerson Field. Junior Erica Baumgartner recorded seven points, a goal and six assists, while Dalton scored seven goals in the high-scoring yet narrow loss.
The Commodores (3-3) were led by freshman Alex Priddy and junior Carter Foote, who tallied five goals apiece. Vanderbilt ended the first half leading 12-7, yet BU went on an 8-2 run to take its first lead, 15-14, with 16:03 to go.
After the teams exchanged tallies, the Commodores were ahead 17-16 with 11:47 left, but sophomore Corcoran Downey and junior Traci Landy put the Terriers up by one. But Vanderbilt notched the final two goals of the game as Priddy’s free-position goal broke an 18-18 tie with 7:30 remaining.
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