Field Hockey: Two consecutive shutouts leave Terriers as fourth seed in PL tournament

Featured image by Troy Bolduc

By Austin Rayamajhi

The Lafayette College Leopards (10-6, 4-1 PL) shut out the Boston University Terriers (6-9, 3-3 PL) in a 5-0 victory on Friday evening in Easton, Pennsylvania. 

The Terriers ended their Patriot League campaign in disappointing fashion, having gone .500 in the conference and being blown out in their final matchup. They will enter the Patriot League tournament as the fourth seed, where they will await the winner of the Patriot League conference. 

The Leopards registered the first chance of the game off a corner around the three-minute mark, but the shot went wide. Lafayette got another chance five minutes later, but this shot went high.

BU’s first chance came courtesy of a corner as well, with star Payton Anderson getting her first chance near the ten-minute mark, but this shot went off goalkeeper Raffi Fragomeni and to BU midfielder Tegan Poerio. Poerio had her shot saved by Fragomeni, and neither team registered a chance for the rest of the quarter. 

The second quarter began with both teams getting a shot off a corner saved within the first five minutes. The Leopards finally got on the board around the 23-minute mark, with Josephine van Wijk scoring after a corner. 

The rest of the frame was not nearly as action-packed, with Lafayette registering the only other shot, which was saved by goaltender Kate Thomason. 

The third quarter got off to a poor start for the Terriers. Lafayette registered the first six shots of the quarter, with Lineke Spaans scoring the Leopard’s second goal of the game. BU responded well to the goal, drawing multiple corners right after. However, the Terriers failed to capitalize on any of their opportunities and were down 2-0 heading into the final frame. 

The Leopards started the final quarter on fire. The team dominated possession and scored two goals in the first three minutes to ice the game. BU was unable to generate any shots, being outshot 10-0. Lafayette scored another goal with six minutes left in the game to make it 5-0. 

Lafayette ends their season against Colgate, with a win setting up a potential rematch for BU in the Patriot League tournament, although this will require help from other teams for Lafayette. 

BU closes their regular season with senior day against Cornell on Nov 3. The game will be at New Balance Field and will be available to stream live on ESPN+.