Field Hockey: Terriers Defeat Lafayette to Win the Patriot League Championship

Featured Image by Jenny Chen 

By Celine Cheung

The fourth-seeded Boston University’s Field Hockey (7-10, 3-3 PL) won the Patriot League championship against the number two seed Lafayette College (12-6, 5-1 PL). The Terriers were led by Caroline O’Brien, who achieved the first hat trick in Patriot League Championship history. 

“We all knew we could do this. I think that’s the most important part, like we all knew that today was our game,” said senior Martu Coulo.

This win marks BU’s third team to ever win the championship as a fourth seed and marks BU Head Coach Sally Starr’s 13th conference title. She’s in her 45th year coaching at BU, and logs 509 wins overall. The last time the Terriers won the Patriot League Championship was in 2018, where they repeated as back-to-back champions and won four titles in five years. Lafayette entered Saturday’s game as the defending champions, having beaten American University last year to secure the championship title.

In the first quarter, O’Brien opened up the game with a shot that went wide. The Leopards later responded by weaving towards the goal and testing BU’s defense, which held up strong against the attempted shot. Lafayette earned two corners but was unable to convert those into points. Many back-and-forth plays occurred during the game, as both sides played tough presses and forced lots of interceptions. The first quarter ended 0-0.

With 12:17 left in the second quarter, BU struck first off a penalty corner against Patriot League goalkeeper of the year, Raffi Fragomeni, and gained a 1-0 lead. O’Brien hit the shot from the top of the circle and was assisted by senior midfielder Megan Wetzel and freshman forward Molly Driscoll. This was O’Brien’s 13th goal of the season. 

In the two Lafayette corners at the end of the second quarter, Sophie Ortyl protected the goal well, and O’Brien ran in from the right side of the field to block the shot and keep the lead 1-0 at halftime.

BU played with confidence and found a rhythm in the first half. They connected their passes and maintained a strong offensive attack. O’Brien’s offensive and defensive prowess was a major contributor to the Terriers’ success, in addition to Ortyl’s quick reflexes in goal.  

Lafayette’s hustle was on clear display in the third quarter. The Leopards dove on the turf for the ball but were met with walls of white BU jerseys and were unable to break through at first.

Sally Starr demonstrated her belief in the Terrier’s depth as she subbed in many players for BU and took advantage of the bench energy.

Leopard junior Maddie Evans tied the game at 1-1 with 4:35 left to go in the third quarter. She scored her third goal of the season by sneaking the ball past Ortyl and the heavy BU defense off of a penalty corner.

A null shot by O’ Brien off a penalty corner led to a penalty shot attempt by Maggie Driscoll. However, a huge block from Fragomeni kept the game tied at 1-1 at the end of the third quarter and brought Lafayette more momentum going into the fourth. 

O’Brien sped down the field at the start of the fourth quarter with the ball and faced off on a one-on-one to score another goal with 13:24 left in the game, giving BU the 2-1 lead.

Lafayette then pulled Fragomeni with a third of the fourth quarter left to get the offensive advantage of an extra player. Leopard Stella Malinowski quickly converted this advantage and scored a goal off the side of the goalpost. The game was once again tied at 2-2 with 4:11 left in the game.

After back-and-forth battles across the field, BU drew another corner, but Lafayette’s defense quickly blocked the shot. The Terriers sprinted to gain the ball on the far side of the field, where they passed the ball around and weaved through the Leopards for O’Brien to score her third goal of the game. BU went up 3-2 with two minutes left in the game. Lafayette’s last-minute attempts to get a corner penalty and pulling the goalie for an offensive advantage did not save them from the deficit, and the Terriers won the Patriot League championship 3-2. 

“Being the underdog is honestly such a blessing. We had everything to gain, nothing to lose. So that just kept us loose, kept us having fun, and it just kept the pressure off of us this entire tournament,” said Patriot League Championship MVP Caroline O’ Brien.

Through winning the championship, BU won an automatic bid to the NCAA Field Hockey Tournament.