Field Hockey: BU fall 3-1 to rivals BC in penultimate regular season game
Boston University Field Hockey (8-8, 4-1 PL) suffered a 3-1 defeat to No. 21 Boston College (7-9) at the Newton Campus Field on Saturday afternoon.
Prior to to game’s 1 pm start, BC was looking to bounce back off a loss to Wake Forest, while BU was hoping to extend their 8-7 winning record this season.
The Eagles got off to a flying start, earning an early penalty corner in the first quarter of the match. They converted this opportunity into a goal, giving them a one goal advantage in the third minute. A shot from the top of the D from BC senior midfielder Lois Lekawael deflected into the goal by junior midfielder Payton Hale, taking her goal tally for the season to eight.
BU senior goalkeeper Caroline Kelly had an impressive first half with three saves, and although the Terriers struggled to get out of their own end, they provided a lot of defensive pressure to keep the scoreline to 1-0.
BU bounced back strongly in the second quarter, with both teams’ defense working hard to contain the opposing offense in an end to end quarter.
The Terriers gained their first penalty corner of the game with less than two minutes to go in the half. Senior midfielder Thalia Steenssens inserted the ball which was rifled towards the goal by senior midfielder Casey Thompson, and diverted into the net by sophomore forward Payton Anderson.
This leveled the scoreline at the end of the first half 1-1.
The third quarter proved decisive in the match, with the Eagles scoring two goals to give them a 3-1 lead.
BC had 14 shots on target and 5 penalty corners.
The Terriers defense put out a great performance to hold off the offense of BC for the first 10 minutes of the quarter. However, some creative individual play from Eagle’s players gave them the edge in the tie.
Their first goal came with four minutes left in the quarter, with junior forward Kara Heck dribbling into the D and chipping the ball over Kelly.
Senior forward Margo Carlin converted BC’s third and final goal of the game.
In the final quarter of the game, the Eagles held possession whilst maintaining attacking pressure, to keep their advantage intact. Although BU made offensive efforts to provide a breakthrough, it was not enough to overcome the two goal deficit.
With a 18-3-23 series history against these two rivals, the Terriers failed to achieve their first victory against BC since 2016.
Following this defeat, the Terriers will travel to face Bucknell in the final Patriot League game of the normal season.