The Boston University women’s lacrosse team (6-3) followed its most dominant performance in school history — a 23-1 drubbing of the University of Vermont on Saturday — with its most disappointing loss of the season.
The No. 7 Terriers traveled across the Charles River to take on rival Harvard University yesterday and lost, 7-6, in overtime.
BU’s last loss came against another Ivy League team, No. 12 Dartmouth College, four games ago. Since then, the Terriers have been unstoppable, scoring at will and stifling its opponents with tenacious defense. In fact, BU outshot its last three opponents, 136-26. But, the team that took Harvard’s Jordan Field yesterday looked completely different.
The Terriers were held to just 14 shots on goal while allowing 19 shots.
“I don’t think we underestimated them,” junior midfielder Kristin Abruzzese said. “We definitely knew that [Harvard] was going to be aggressive out there. We had lapses.”
BU hasn’t had the luxury of a home field the entire season. The Terriers have had to travel to three alternate sites over the course of the year to play “home” games. Two of BU’s losses have come in these “home-away-from-home” contests.
And, while they did bury Vermont at “home” and beat Drexel convincingly, the Terriers seem to be playing much better on the road.
“In a way, I feel more comfortable playing away from home, where we know we have a field to play on,” said BU coach Sue Murphy after the Vermont win.
In fact, the Terriers only win against a ranked opponent this season came in an away game against the University of North Carolina.
So, it must be relieving for the Terriers to embark on a three-game road trip, which begins Sunday against Old Dominion University.
“It will be good to travel again,” said junior goalkeeper Brooke Barrett. “[Old Dominion] is a big game against another ranked opponent. We’re going into the road trip very optimistic.”
In addition to Old Dominion, BU will face Towson University and the University of Delaware during its three-game trip. But, according to Murphy, there aren’t any more “cake walks” like Vermont remaining on the schedule. Now is the time for BU to gel and take care of business.
“We learned a lot [from the loss],” Murphy said. “It’s not going to kill our season. We have a lot to do yet, and we don’t have time to be down. We’re ready to move on. We’re not playing Vermont anymore.
“Now is the time that we can point fingers and be ‘catty’ — or now is the time we can come together.”
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