Something about the Ivy League rubs the Boston University women’s lacrosse team the wrong way.
The No. 7 Terriers (6-3, 2-0 America East) got a huge wake-up call yesterday from lowly Harvard University, losing in overtime, 7-6, ending a three-game win streak.
The pesky Crimson repeatedly came back yesterday on the Terriers, who could not seem to employ the torrid offense that earned last Saturday’s 23-1 romp against the University of Vermont. The loss was BU’s second in overtime to an Ivy League opponent this season, as it suffered a 9-8 defeat to Dartmouth College on March 21.
“This one hurt,” said BU coach Sue Murphy. “The only word I can use is disappointing. We didn’t gel. We made defensive errors, but we had lots of opportunities to win this game.”
BU and Harvard (5-3, 0-2 Ivy League) traded streaks of goals throughout the game, but the Crimson pulled ahead, 6-5, on a free position shot by Heather Gotha with 9:44 left in the second half. The Terriers answered just over a minute later, however, on an unassisted goal by freshman attacker Polly Purcell to knot the game at 6.
After several near misses in the waning minutes of regulation by both teams and a crucial close-range save by BU junior goalkeeper Brooke Barrett with 11 seconds left, the Terriers and the Crimson battled into overtime.
Harvard controlled the ball from the opening face-off of overtime and needed just 51 seconds to score, as the Crimson’s Meg Austin slanted through the crease in front of Barrett and fired a low shot that bounced into the net for the eventual game-winner.
The Terriers had their opportunities in overtime to tie though, coming closest when a BU shot ricocheted off the right post of Harvard’s net with just 15 seconds left in the first overtime period. BU senior midfielder Chrissy Lombard had an excellent chance to tie the game as well with just over a minute left in the second overtime, but her free position shot was saved.
That would prove to be BU’s last ditch effort, but Harvard walked away with the upset — and a year’s worth of bragging rights.
For the No. 7 Terriers, riding high on a three-game win streak and a record-setting blowout may have had negative effects yesterday.
“I would hate to think that [we took Harvard lightly]. Our preparation for this game was one in which the team talked a lot about Harvard and what we wanted to do and we just couldn’t wait to play them,” Murphy said. “Harvard only lost to Yale, which is a good program, by one goal with a second left [Sunday]. They reminded me of how we used to be; they played with a lot of passion and a lot of heart, and they had nothing to lose.”
Harvard was out to get BU from the start, as it struck first just 1:31 into the game and wasted no time in getting on the board a second time, blasting a shot past Barrett just 23 seconds later to go up, 2-0. The Terriers were slow in penetrating the Crimson’s defense, cutting the lead in half at 19:38 on a tally by senior midfielder Kyle Rutkowski.
Harvard would notch another goal before halftime to go up, 3-1, with the potent BU offense managing just one goal and very little time of possession. But the Terriers seemed to return to old form right away in the second, rattling off four unanswered goals to gain their first lead of the game.
Rutkowski tallied her second of the game just over four minutes into the half, junior midfielder Kristin Aburzzese tied the game at three just 45 seconds later and junior attacker Katie Nordhoff scored 2:20 later to put the Terriers ahead, 4-3.
Lombard, BU’s leading scorer, chipped in with one of her own to complete the four-goal run and put the Terriers up, 5-3.
“We had a nice showing at the beginning of the second half. We made some adjustments at halftime. We had a better plan on offense and made some changes on defense,” Murphy said. “We got a lot of calls and executed really well on attack.”
But Harvard wouldn’t relent and reeled off three unanswered goals of its own, setting up Purcell’s goal to tie the game, 6-6, and send the contest into overtime.
“I thought the motivation of being up 5-3 would have been enough to carry us through. We didn’t play 60 minutes,” Murphy said.
“This is a real eye-opener for us.”
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