An expedition down south

This weekend last year, the Boston University field hockey team defeated then-No. 7 University of Virginia in an upset on the Terriers’ home turf.

Fast-forward to the same weekend a year later, and the No. 19 Terriers will travel down to Virginia for a rematch with the No. 15 Cavalier (5-2) in hopes of pulling off yet another upset.

BU will take on UVa in the second of a two-game set down South, but first the Terriers must face Longwood University — a team that, despite being in its first season at the Division I level, is a squad BU coach Sally Starr cautions the Terriers must not overlook.

“Even though this is their first year in Division I, they’ve been playing a Division I schedule the last couple of years,” Starr said. “Their scoring differential against quality opponents is small. They’re well coached, they defend very well and they are a team that will be a formidable opponent for us.”

The Lancers, who play in the Northern Pacific Field Hockey conference, have struggled out of the gate to a 2-8-0 record, and the Terriers (6-2) will be the first ranked opponent on the schedule this season.

For the Terriers, who will be finishing up a five-game road swing, the key to extending their three-game winning streak will be focusing on improving on their play as an entire unit.

“We need to focus on the things that we can do well and I think the biggest thing for us is to attack as a team and defend as a team,” Starr said. “We’re attacking as a team consistently, but particularly we’re not defending collectively as a team.

“We’ll look to improve on that on Saturday, and if we do those things, then we’ll be successful,” she added.

And while the Terriers will be looking to record their fourth win in a row against Longwood, UVA will be busy with another familiar Beantown foe – No. 10 Boston College – before facing BU on Sunday.

Virginia annually provides tough competition for BU, and this year is no different. The only losses for the Cavalier, who play in the Atlantic Coast Conference, have come against top-ranked opponents: then-No. 7 Penn State University and then-No.6 Old Dominion University.

For the Terriers, the game against UVa presents a good opportunity to raise their own national ranking.

“Well I think [this game is] a great opportunity for us,” Starr said. “We feel we’re a team that can compete with anyone in the country.”

“We have a lot of talent and it’s an exciting opportunity to play against a team that is respected nationally,” she added. “They’re an ACC team, the top conference in field hockey, and we really want to focus on ourselves and do what we can do well. It really is going to take a total team effort both offensively and defensively to compete against a team like Virginia.”

That team effort will also ultimately depend upon the Terriers’ play in goal, which has had a tumultuous start to this year.

Freshman Kim Kastuk will likely get the start this weekend after playing in both games last weekend. Kastuk, who subluxated her shoulder in practice Sept. 5, bounced back quickly. Redshirt freshman Amanda Smith, who’d been starting in Kastuk’s absence, went down with a shoulder injury of her own during warmups just 10 minutes prior to the start of last Saturday’s game against Northeastern University.

“Amanda went down and hurt her shoulder and fortunately Kim had a very good warm up, felt good and was able to start. Otherwise, we could have had a really bad situation,” Starr said.

“A little bit of bad luck for Amanda but she is healing, and we’ll have two healthy goalies this weekend,” she added.