Field Hockey: Terriers season ends at hands of Lafayette
By: Alexa Podalsky
Boston University field hockey’s season came to close Thursday afternoon with a 3-2 overtime loss to the Lafayette College Leopards in Washington, D.C. The Terriers (8-10) never trailed through regulation in the Patriot League Semifinal game, but the Leopards (12-6) handed BU a similar fate to their last season.
Last year’s Terriers reached the PL finals before losing to Lehigh University in overtime. This season, BU’s campaign ended one game earlier. The Terriers fell — once again — in overtime to a Pennsylvania-based team, keeping BU short of the conference title.
The Terriers were determined to prevent the Leopards from moving on in the first quarter. BU was aggressive from the jump and held control of the ball for the majority of the quarter.
Senior midfielder Thalia Steenssens scored the first goal just three minutes in. Sophomore forward Amalia Preece gained possession of the ball at the top of the circle and passed it to Steenssens. The senior then shot the ball, bouncing it in off one of Lafayette’s defenders, to give the Terriers the early 1-0 lead.
Later in the quarter, Lafayette’s junior defender Insia Ralph received the first penalty corner of the game. After a moment of teamwork from the Leopards, junior midfielder Lineke Spaans shot the ball wide.
Steenssens also gave BU its first penalty corner of the game, and junior forward Payton Anderson replicated Lafayette’s performance.
The Leopards came back in the second quarter, outplaying the Terriers, yet remained scoreless.
Ralph recorded two more penalty corners which led to two more shots — one wide and the other blocked. Junior midfielder Alex Darrah and freshman defender Lena Thedrian gave BU’s senior goalie Kate Thomason her first three saves of nine.
The Leopards got on the board in the third quarter. Ralph and sophomore midfielder Makenzie Switzer made a rush for the net before Spaans tipped the ball past Thomason to tie the game at 1-1.
Freshman forward Nicole Lauro gave BU the 2-1 lead with five minutes remaining in the quarter on an assist from freshman midfielder Bella Cloutier. This goal was Lauro’s fourth goal and Cloutier’s first collegiate point.
But, just like before, BU fell behind Lafayette’s strong offense. Ralph recorded two more corners in the fourth quarter. The Leopards also recorded six shots while BU lagged behind with none, setting Thomason up with three more saves.
Lafayette pulled senior goalkeeper Emma Garvey from the net in favor of another player on the field. This is what gave them their advantage and later led to them evening the score.
Most notably, senior defender Rachel Borzymowski recorded her fourteenth defensive save off of a shot from Lafayette’s sophomore midfielder Josephine van Wijk.
In the final 50 seconds, Lafayette’s freshman midfielder Lea Good recorded her first collegiate goal to send the game into overtime.
One minute after the overtime period began, Ralph recorded her fifth of seven penalty corners. Although the Leopards did not convert on this chance, they capitalized on additional BU discipline issues to keep their momentum rolling.
The only penalty of the game was a green card on BU’s junior midfielder Katie Devine. This mistake is what allowed Lafayette to further hold possession of the ball.
But, BU’s defense just couldn’t overcome the Leopard offense, and Thomason’s impressive performance could only carry the team so far. Thedrian sent the ball and BU’s season into the back of the net at the 4:09 mark of overtime
The Terrier’s anticlimactic ending could be attributed to multiple factors. Most notably, BU saw a lot of injuries on their defense. Also, with other talented players who graduated after the 2022 season, BU hadn’t found strong players to fill the holes that were left.
Now, the Terriers enter the off-season to put another year of training under their belts.