The Boston University field hockey team took back the America East Conference title from the No. 17 University at Albany this weekend, giving the Terriers their fourth conference championship in the last five years.
On Friday, the Terriers (10-11) earned their spot in the finals by beating the University of Maine, 5-2. Junior Allie Dolce, the team’s leading scorer, put BU on the board just six minutes into the game with an unassisted tally. Dolce ended up with two goals and two assists for a career high of six points. Freshmen Nicole van Oosterom and Jacinda McLeod and sophomore Giovanna Monaco also scored for the Terriers.
Maine (12-7), who BU coach Sally Starr described as a ‘strong offensive team,’ was held to 10 shots and two goals, one coming on a penalty stroke. They were shut down by the Terriers on four second-half corners, reflecting a solid performance by BU’s defense.
On Saturday, the Terriers faced Albany (13-5), the only conference team to defeat them in the regular season. Albany defeated the University of New Hampshire, 3-0, in their semifinal game, and reached the finals for the third straight year.
The game was a far cry from the frustrating 2-0 loss the Terriers suffered at the hands of the Great Danes in their last meeting. Sophomore forward Kali Cardoza opened the scoring at 2:21, giving the Terriers an early 1-0 lead they never lost. Van Oosterom assisted on Cardoza’s goal, and went on to score two of her own. McLeod converted a penalty stroke 20 minutes into the second half to give BU a 4-0 lead. Senior Albany forward Nicole Savage scored with 10 minutes remaining, but the game was all but decided in the Terriers’ favor at that point.
In their last three competitions with Albany, the Terriers had been shut out, thanks in part to the Great Danes’ elite goalkeeper, junior Christine Hoffman. The relentless offense BU generated on Saturday was a pleasant surprise.
‘When we played [Albany] in the regular season, it was not our best game,’ Starr said. ‘We were really disappointed with how we competed, so we were happy to get another chance to play them. . . . Everything’s beginning to click for us now, and we are offensively very dangerous. Nine goals in two games in a conference tournament is not easy to do.’
The Terriers could hardly have chosen a better time to take their play to the next level. Saturday’s win earned them not only a conference title, but also a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament. They will face No. 15 Stanford University in a play-in game for the tournament on Tuesday at Jack Barry Field.
‘This is just an awesome, awesome week for our hockey program,’ Starr said. ‘This has been an objective of ours since this time last year when we lost to Albany ‘-‘- it was a feeling we didn’t like, and since then, everyone’s been very determined. We’ve had a lot of disappointing losses, but what I love about this team is our resiliency. Even when we were losing, I kept saying all season that I thought we were going to win the conference championship.’
‘It’s a special team that’s able to achieve what they’ve achieved,’ she said. ‘It takes tremendous leadership, and it takes tremendous courage.’
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