{"id":9352,"date":"2017-09-23T21:05:53","date_gmt":"2017-09-24T01:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sportswtbu.com\/?p=9352"},"modified":"2020-01-09T17:49:14","modified_gmt":"2020-01-09T22:49:14","slug":"connollys-hat-trick-leads-terriers-in-first-patriot-league-matchup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2017\/09\/23\/connollys-hat-trick-leads-terriers-in-first-patriot-league-matchup\/","title":{"rendered":"Connolly\u2019s Hat Trick Leads Terriers in First Patriot League Matchup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" size-full wp-image-12771 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/files\/2017\/11\/37247139936_2f7fce3b81_o.jpg\" alt=\"37247139936_2f7fce3b81_o\" width=\"5184\" height=\"3456\" \/><\/p>\n<p>By Andrew Mason<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">BOSTON &#8211; It was just that kind of game for Ailsa Connolly on Saturday afternoon. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">As the No. 24 Terriers returned home to New Balance Field, somewhere they hadn\u2019t played at since late August, the freshman forward was able to grab three goals, lifting Boston University past the Leopards of Lafayette College by a final score of 5-1.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">BU moves to 5-3 on the season and officially 1-0 in Patriot League play.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">\u201cOur first conference game, coming off a three game losing streak, not really playing our best hockey, it was so important to come in today and really play well,\u201d Head Coach Sally Starr said after the game.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">The losing streak that preceded Saturday\u2019s win can be blamed partly on the Terrier\u2019s lack of offensive efficiency, totaling three goals during the three game skid. However, the offense looked phenomenal against Lafayette. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">The Terriers were able to accumulate five goals against a Leopards&#8217; goalkeeper who has been tough to slip any shots past all season. Sarah Park, the sophomore, had only allowed eight total goals through Lafayette\u2019s first seven games. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">Aside from Connolly, who found the back of the cage late in the first half, then twice more in the second to register a team-high six goals this season, Grace Boston and Petra Hall added to the point scoring for BU. The senior captain, Boston, also tallied an assist in the first half during a fastbreak that Connolly turned into her first goal of the day.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"  wp-image-9359 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/files\/2017\/09\/37247139216_d178b1d07a_o.jpg\" alt=\"37247139216_d178b1d07a_o\" width=\"374\" height=\"249\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/files\/2017\/09\/37247139216_d178b1d07a_o.jpg 5184w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/files\/2017\/09\/37247139216_d178b1d07a_o-636x424.jpg 636w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/files\/2017\/09\/37247139216_d178b1d07a_o-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/files\/2017\/09\/37247139216_d178b1d07a_o-1024x683.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 374px) 100vw, 374px\" \/>Not much went wrong for BU on the defensive end. Lafayette midfielder Ellen Coleburn was able to sneak one in past BU goalkeeper Kathleen Keegan at the 34-minute mark to make it a 3-1 Terrier lead heading into halftime.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">Otherwise, the Terriers were able to keep the Leopard\u2019s top offensive threats, Grace Angelella and Rosie Shanks \u2013 each with a team-high three goals heading into the game \u2013 from finding any sort of rhythm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">BU\u2019s substitute goalkeeper Millie Baker, who, per usual, saw most of the action in goal in the second half, made two saves and allowed no points against the Leopards.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">\u201cMillie\u2019s an outstanding goalie and I think she\u2019s just gonna keep getting better and better as the season goes on,\u201d Starr said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">One of the more exciting moments of the contest came in the second half when Baker left the goal to meet a fast-breaking Lafayette offense.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">\u201cOn the breakaway, [Baker] came out, didn\u2019t play it as cleanly as she would\u2019ve liked it and we would&#8217;ve liked it,\u201d Starr said. &#8220;But she was still able to scramble back, protect the goal mouth, and keep them out of the cage. That was awesome.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">One key to BU\u2019s victory was keeping penalty corners for Lafayette under control. The Terriers were able to successfully defend the Leopards three corner situations, an area that has plagued the Terriers tremendously this season, particularly in second halves. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">BU will continue play this weekend in a non-conference matchup against the No. 17 ranked Princeton Tigers on Sunday. The game is set to start at 2 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">\u201cFor a young team I think we\u2019re at the point in time that we\u2019re ready to really show some maturity, show some growth,\u201d Starr said. \u201cSo, looking forward to an opportunity to see where we are growth-wise and compete against a really good team.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\"> \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; By Andrew Mason BOSTON &#8211; It was just that kind of game for Ailsa Connolly on Saturday afternoon. As the No. 24 Terriers returned home to New Balance Field, somewhere they hadn\u2019t played at since late August, the freshman forward was able to grab three goals, lifting Boston University past the Leopards of Lafayette [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17192,"featured_media":12779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1049],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9352"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17192"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9352"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22026,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9352\/revisions\/22026"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}