Lacrosse drops two out of three to ranked teams

The No. 7/9 Boston University lacrosse team played a trio of ranked opponents over spring break, starting off with a win at home against No. 18/16 William and Mary College. The Terriers finished the break with losses to No. 5/6 Duke University and No. 18 Vanderbilt University in back-to-back road games.

The Terriers (3-2) used an offensive explosion to defeat William and Mary (3-2), 15-10, on March 7 at Nickerson Field. BU outscored the Tribe 11-6 in the first half alone to sail to an easy victory. Senior captain Traci Landy led the Terriers with five goals, and sophomore midfielder Hannah Frey continued her impressive second season with four goals and an assist of her own.

“[Landy] is our ultimate team leader,” said BU coach Liz Robertshaw. “On the field every player looks to her to see what she is going to do. Opponents are going to mark her up with their toughest defenders and she handles it very well. It speaks to her character. It speaks to the how good of a player she is that she can handle that kind of pressure and still get it done.”

Senior attacker Xan Weitzel tied a career-high with five assists on Sunday afternoon. Senior captain Rachel Klein made seven saves to pick up her third win of the year. The win marked the first time since 2005 that the Terriers have started a season 3-0.

Tied 4-4 with less than ten minutes left in the first half, BU put together an 11-3 run over the next 25 minutes of play to put the game out of reach. Winning draws was again a key part of the Terriers’ victory, as they won 17-of-27 draws in the game.

“William and Mary was a great complete game for the entire team,” Robertshaw said. “Offensively we really clicked, we moved the ball well, we shot well and we played some of the best attacking I’ve seen yet. Defensively I thought we made some really great defensive stops. Rachel was great in the cage and thought it was a really good team effort from start to finish.”

The Terriers traveled to Durham, N.C. on March 10 to face Duke (7-1), the first time this season BU faced an opponent with a higher rank. Goals by senior captain McKinley Curro, Landy and Frey kept the game close early in the first half with the score tied at three apiece. However, Duke scored the next five goals to close out the half with an 8-3 lead.

BU was unable to break the Blue Devils’ strong defense as it only managed to put four shots on goal in the second half, and suffered their first loss of the season by a score of 10-6. Curro led BU with two goals and an assist, while Landy also added two goals. Fouls were the Terriers’ downfall, as Duke converted on 5-of-12 free-position shots.

“It was a really hard fought game,” Robertshaw said. “I was impressed by the amount of effort my team gave, especially defensively. The play of [senior midfielder] Jenny Martin, it was the best game I saw her play in four years. I was happy to hold a team like Duke to ten goals, and the fact that two of my defenders [junior midfielder] Corcoran Downey and Jenny Martin held their two leading scorers to one point total, between the two players, speaks volume of the kind of defensive play that we can do.”

Saturday’s game at Vanderbilt (3-3) was one the Terriers’ wished to win after losing to them 19-18 last year at Nickerson Field in a shootout. The underdog Commodores got off to a hot start scoring the game’s first six goals in the first 17 minutes of play. BU struggled to put the ball past sophomore goalkeeper Natalie Wills who finished with 13 saves.

Although Klein finished with a career-high 18 saves, Vanderbilt’s offensive pressure proved too much for the Terriers to handle as they suffered their second straight loss by a score of 10-5. The Commodores outshot BU 39-24 overall, 23-12 in the first half alone.

“Rachel Klein, 18 saves, was huge for us,” Robertshaw said. “I think she had a great game and she kept the team in it. On an attacking perspective we need better production if we plan on winning.”