With another win in the Patriot League, the Boston University field hockey team ended its regular season with a 2-0 victory against Lafayette College.
Despite earning a corner six minutes into the game, it was a slow start for the Terriers (12-6, 5-1 Patriot League) as they began to let the Leopards (6-11, 3-3 Patriot League) dictate the way the game was played early on. Midway through the first half, Lafayette outshot BU 4-1 with four penalty corners.
On one of the first chances of the game for the Terriers, sophomore midfielder Sofi Laurito took a shot on net but was denied by Leopard goalkeeper Jessica Deutsch. However, freshman forward Sara Martineau trailed the ball and fell into Deutsch, who never had possession of the ball, which allowed Martineau to knock the ball in for the first goal of the game in the 26th minute.
Following the BU goal, Lafayette looked to make a comeback but struggled to move the ball into Terrier territory. The Leopards got one shot off before the end of the half but were once again denied by junior goalkeeper Valentina Cerda Eimbcke.
The Terriers had a chance to pad their lead at the end of the half, with a corner as time expired, but sophomore backer Rachel Coll’s shot was blocked, sending the game to halftime with BU leading 1-0.
The second half of action was similar to the first half, as Lafayette earned several penalty attack corners, but all three were stopped by Eimbcke. After seeing this Leopard attack for 12 minutes, BU coach Sally Starr called a timeout to straighten things out with her team.
“[Lafayette] went after each other really hard, we were playing just a little soft and a little tentative at times today I felt,” Starr said. “I felt we were letting [Lafayette] set the pace a little bit, so it was just talking about control, get to the 50–50 balls, I think we were starting to dribble a little too much, so I just tried to mix it up a bit.”
After the timeout the Terriers began to control the ball more and did not have to rely on Eimbcke to make save after save. Eventually, the field opened up enough for Laurito to speed into the attack circle and fire off a backhanded slapshot, earning her eighth goal of the season, giving BU a 2-0 lead.
From there, BU would hold onto its two-goal lead and defeat the Leopards. The victory gave the Terriers a boost as they prepare to take on Bucknell University in the Patriot League Tournament semifinal game next weekend.
Starr said she was pleased with the victory, given the toughness of Lafayette.
“Lafayette played us really tough today,” Starr said. “It was not an easy victory and I’m really happy for our seniors to get this victory today, and I think everybody worked hard and it was a good win.”
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