Friday night marked another matchup in what Boston College field hockey head coach Ainslee Lamb calls “an institutional rivalry.” BC led the rivalry 13-12 going into Friday night, and it would have been very easy for the Eagles to overlook the 2-2 Terriers and instead focus on their Sunday matchup with the No. 2 Connecticut Huskies. The Eagles took care of business in the end, though, defeating BU 2-1 in overtime.
Early in the game, the Eagles controlled the ball with great midfield play from senior Emma Plasteras. BC outshot the Terriers in the first half 7-3, and many of BC’s shots came from team efforts, including four penalty corners in the first period.
Conversely, BU’s tries were all individual efforts from distance. Despite the Eagles’ game control, there was no score in the first half.
The Eagles carried their momentum into the second half and almost scored off a penalty corner, but the goal was disallowed.
Only a few minutes later, BC was finally able to capitalize on a penalty corner when Brooke Matherson recovered a deflection and slipped it past BU goalkeeper Valentina Cerda to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead and her first goal of the season with 19 minutes remaining.
The Terriers would storm back, though, gaining momentum and fighting to survive as they trailed late in the game.
They controlled the ball and missed on two good penalty opportunities before finally scoring on their third. A good cross from BU led to two saves from BC goalkeeper Leah Settipane before Amanda Cassera of the Terriers tipped it in, tying the game with 12 minutes left.
With only a few minutes left, BU almost won the game on a hard outside shot, but a brave leg save from Settipane kept the scored tied and sent the game into overtime.
BC controlled the ball for most of the 15 minute overtime period. Both goalies were forced to make saves off of penalty corner tries, and the score remained locked.
With around four minutes left in OT, BC’s Leah Frome took the ball up the field by herself, beating a few defenders along the way, until she forced Cerda to make a save. The save deflected to Plasteras, who centered the ball, which was eventually chipped into the net by Klecie Hromisin, giving the Eagles a win.
Lamb attributed the win to the team’s fitness and work over the summer, which helped them outlast BU in overtime period. “It was great to see assistant coach Kelly Doton run the overtime and win that game for us,” Lamb said.
Featured Image by Graham Beck / Heights Senior Staff
