After outscoring America East opponents 10-0 in its first two games, the No. 15 Boston University field hockey team was probably not expecting to have a .500 conference record with one game left to play in the regular season.
But in a season full of twists and turns, that is exactly what the Terriers are facing after dropping a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to No. 18 University at Albany in penalty strokes Sunday afternoon.
“I think the biggest thing that we needed as a team, even more important than a win, was to play well,” said BU coach Sally Starr.
And BU indeed played well, as it battled with Albany neck and neck throughout the game.
Albany (13-4, 4-0 AE) jumped ahead early with forward Christina Patrick’s goal 10 minutes into the first half, but BU (9-7, 2-2 AE) countered late in the first half once sophomore fullback Jacinda McLeod assisted sophomore midfielder Macey Gaumond’s first goal of the season and collegiate career.
“Macey is actually a very, very good hockey player,” Starr said, adding that the former redshirt has been versatile for the team this year by playing fullback, midfielder and forward. “When she’s on, when she’s really playing well, she’s an outstanding hockey player.”
After Gaumond’s goal, none of the rest of the 44 total shots in the game found the back of the net as the score stayed even through the end of the first half.
And then the second half. And a 15-minute overtime period. And finally a second OT.
After the maximum 100 minutes of play, the evenly matched teams had to go to penalty strokes to determine a winner. Despite sophomore goalkeeper Julie Collins’s career-high nine saves on Sunday, the Great Danes scored on all four of their penalty strokes to beat BU’s two out of four, ending a long day at Alumni Turf Field.
Starr said she has long been an opponent of the penalty stroke format.
“If you play 100 minutes of hockey, it’s a tie,” Starr said. “There’s really no reason to determine a winner.”
Even with the less-than-ideal result, Starr saw improvements from the team’s last couple of games.
“For all but the first 15 minutes of the game, I felt that we played hard and played smart and had a lot of team synergy, which we had not had in the previous two games,” Starr said.
Collins, filling in for concussed senior goalkeeper Amanda Smith, made seven of her nine saves in the first half and raised her save percentage to .765 while playing all 100 minutes in just her second start of the season.
“Julie had a really, really good game for us,” Starr said. “She made some very key saves that kept us in the game.”
In addition to Smith, the team was also without senior forward Allie Dolce, who was sick in the days leading up to the game and did not make the trip with the team.
“I think it’s the first time in my 30 years of coaching that we went into the game without two senior co-captains,” Starr said.
The team is taking that as a positive, according to Starr, who was impressed with the team’s play considering that it was without two crucial players.
“[To play that way] without two starters, two leaders, makes me feel good about the direction we’re headed right now,” Starr said.
The loss, BU’s third straight, is especially frustrating for the Terriers because of their dominating yet ultimately fruitless play in overtime. The team had more shots on goal than the Great Danes in overtime (11-2), and outshot Albany 6-0 in the final 15 minutes, but could not find the back of the net. Still, Starr was satisfied with the result.
“I don’t feel we lost the game,” Starr said. “We lost the strokes.”
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