The No. 7 Boston University women’s lacrosse team (6-4, 2-0 America East) entered the weekend after recording both its most dominant and its most disappointing performances within the same week.
The Terriers snubbed the University of Vermont convincingly, 23-1, before falling to unranked Ivy League-rival Harvard University in overtime just five days later.
Nothing would have eased the pain more than a win against No. 16 Old Dominion University yesterday.
Old Dominion had other plans, however, and beat the Terriers, 8-5.
From the beginning, it seemed that BU would rebound from the Harvard loss.
Junior midfielder Kristin Abruzzese scored just 1:02 into the first half, her 14th goal of the season.
But then Old Dominion launched an assault of its own, scoring three unanswered before BU found the scoreboard again.
The Terriers scored four more goals, including Abruzzese’s second and third goals before the intermission, but the Monarchs still had the slim 6-5 edge at the half.
And that’s all it took.
Old Dominion managed to score two goals in the second half, both of which were meaningless as BU remained unable to find the Monarch net.
The Terriers had their chances, as BU forced 12 of Old Dominion’s 14 turnovers and had 24 shots on goal.
The balls were simply not finding their way into the net.
Junior goalkeeper Brooke Barrett managed eight saves for the game.
The Terriers will undoubtedly drop in this week’s WLCA poll.
The Terriers, who at one time this season were ranked No. 6 in the nation — the highest ever in BU’s history — will likely take their biggest drop in the polls this season because of the back-to-back losses.
On the bright side, BU won’t face another ranked opponent until April 21 against Syracuse University.
And, the way the season is panning out, the most important game of the season for the Terriers may be the season finale against Hofstra University.
The Pride are off to a surprising 6-1 start, good enough for the 19th spot in the national polls.
BU is still the overwhelming favorite to win the America East conference.
But, if the Terriers are to re-establish national dominance, they must win their next three contests, all of which are against unranked teams.
Should the Terriers play the way they are capable of playing — the type of game they played against the University of North Carolina and Vermont — they could conceivably win the seven games remaining on their schedule.
The Terriers will not play a home game at Nickerson field for the rest of their season. Their next scheduled “home” game against the University of Connecticut will be played at an alternate site still to be determined.
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