They still got it.
After falling to No. 15 Syracuse University over the weekend, members of the Boston University women’s lacrosse team (9-6, 4-1 America East) defeated the University of New Hampshire yesterday, 8-7, in a conference grudge match.
“Everyday is a new day,” said BU coach Sue Murphy. “We went up there and we won, and that’s what I asked them to do.”
With senior attacker and leading scorer Chrissy Lombard plagued by a culmination of ailments — the most recent being tendonitis in her knee — the Terriers stepped up and kept themselves in the race for a second straight America East crown.
“It was a good game for us,” Murphy said. “We knew what we needed to do. I’m thrilled we got the job done.”
BU fell behind early, facing a 2-0 deficit at 24:07 of the first half. The Terriers knotted the score at two with a goal from Lombard and junior midfielder Kristin Abruzzese, but the Wildcats answered with a goal of their own to take the 3-2 edge — their last lead of the game.
Abruzzese and senior midfielder Kyle Rutowski scored a goal apiece to give the Terriers a 4-3 advantage before the Wildcats tied the game with just four seconds remaining in the half.
“We had a lot of shots in the first half, but none of them got to the net,” Murphy said.
Lombard tallied the second of her three goals to begin the second half, but New Hampshire knotted the game again with 22:16 remaining in the contest.
Over the next seven minutes, Abruzzese, Lombard and sophomore attacker Caroline Kelleher each scored and the Terriers took an 8-5 lead — their largest of the game — and never looked back.
Murphy said the win might have been the first step in revitalizing what was once one of the most feared teams in the nation.
“I’m thrilled,” Murphy said. “I think we took our first step today. I think for our confidence we really gained a lot. We didn’t give up. We pull together now or we go into [the America East] tournament not feeling very good about ourselves. The winner of that goes to the NCAA [tournament].”
Murphy also said the team has learned a lot this year and remains confident because the nucleus of the team is used to playing the underdog.
“We started this season so strong,” Murphy said. “It was a lesson learned. I think we kind of played afraid to lose. We had to really look back and think, ‘OK, we might have lost our route to the NCAA tournament,’ but I’m feeling pretty strong having a group of nine or 10 that have played as an underdog.”
BU plays its final non-conference game of the year Wednesday at Brown University and then finishes its regular season schedule in a conference showdown against Hofstra University. If things go right for the Terriers, that game could be for the conference championship.
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