Dominant First Half Propels BU to AE Final
from press release
ALBANY, N.Y. -- The Boston University lacrosse
team advanced to the America East title game for the 12th straight
season following a 10-6 victory over conference rival New Hampshire
in the semifinals of the conference tournament on Thursday
afternoon at Fallon Field. The second-seeded Terriers (10-8) will
be in search of their sixth straight America East title when they
face fourth-seeded UMBC, an 11-9 upset winner over Albany, on
Saturday at 1 p.m.
BU jumped out to an 8-1 halftime lead before allowing the Wildcats
to score the first four goals of the latter half and make it an 8-5
contest. Senior Traci Landy, however, completed a hat-trick
performance with back-to-back goals and give the Terriers a 10-5
advantage with just under five minutes to play.
Senior Xan Weitzel tallied a game-best four points on a goal and
three assists, sophomore Hannah Frey recorded a pair of goals and
senior McKinley Curro put up a goal and an assist.
The Terrier defense allowed just three shots in the opening half to
help it score the first three goals of the contest before closing
out the first stanza on a 5-0 run.
Junior Mandy Rogers scored the first goal of the game on a nice
pass from Weitzel just 51 seconds into the game before Curro and
Weitzel posted tallies 10 seconds apart.
UNH's lone goal of the first half came at 21:14 off a free-position
shot by Shaunna Kaplan, but that ended up being the Wildcats' last
shot before halftime.
Sophomore Catie Tilton started the run of five straight BU goals to
close out the half before classmate Hannah Frey potted consecutive
goals. Landy earned her first tally of the game with 4:36 left in
the first before a bizarre goal in the closing seconds of the half
gave BU an 8-1 lead heading into the break.
After UNH netminder Kathleen O'Keefe made a stop on a shot that was
deflected by freshman Danielle Etrasco, the ball fell out of her
pocket as she was attempting an outlet pass and trickled past the
goal line with eight seconds left. It was credited as an own goal.
The Wildcats held the Terriers scoreless for nearly 20 minutes
to start the second half and came up with four goals - including
two from Hayley Rausch - during the stretch to make it an 8-5
affair.
With 10:10 left in regulation, Landy scored on a terrific
individual effort, sliding in and around three defenders before
sailing a shot past O'Keefe to end the Terriers' scoring drought.
Landy struck again with 4:43 remaining on a drive from the top of the circle, making it a 10-5 contest. UNH's JoJo Curro, McKinley's younger sister, scored the latter of her two second-half goals with 1:46 left, but that ended up being the final goal of the contest, as BU won its 13th straight game against the Wildcats, dating back to the 2004 America East title game.
Senior goalkeeper Rachel Klein made five saves, including four in the second half, for the Terriers and O'Keefe also recorded five stops on the other end.
BU outshot UNH, 20-15, but the Wildcats held slim edges in ground balls (12-10) and draw controls (9-8).
Junior Rachel Collins had a strong performance for the Terriers with team highs in draw controls (3) and caused turnovers (2) while also gathering three ground balls. Klein came out of the crease to collect a game-best four ground balls.
The Terriers now set their sights on UMBC in Saturday's title game, which will be held at Albany's Fallon Field. Back on April 10, BU posted a 12-8 road victory over the Retrievers and have only lost to them once in their nine all-time meetings.
