The American University lacrosse team (5-11) lost 12-5 against Boston University (8-8) on April 19 — the team’s annual senior day, where they honored 12 graduating players.
The Eagles had to win this game to have a chance to make the Patriot League Tournament. However, it was BU that got off to a great start.
The Terriers controlled possession quickly and forced senior goalkeeper Caleigh Forti to make an early save before Terrier midfielder Leah Hodgins opened the scoring less than two minutes into the game.
The Terriers continued to pressure the Eagles into committing turnovers and forced Forti to make two more saves to keep the Eagles in the game. Boston scored twice more in quick succession, giving the Terriers a 3-0 lead halfway through the first quarter.
A few minutes after establishing the lead, the Terriers were issued a yellow card, meaning American would have the player advantage for two minutes. The Eagles used it to their advantage: Senior attacker Maddy Spratt scored her 26th goal of the season to reduce the lead to 3-1, which is how the quarter would end.
In the second quarter, Boston’s defense continued to hold back American’s offense. Meanwhile, the Terriers’ offense again opened the scoring in the quarter to extend their lead 4-1. Amidst the Boston domination, senior attacker Alyssa Apuzzo split a double team and scored to keep the Eagles in the game. However, the Terriers responded less than a minute later, pushing the lead back to 5-2.
The teams traded turnovers, missed shots and fouls for the rest of the half. American had a couple of chances both from the free position and open play but was unable to convert. The stalemate continued deep into the third quarter as Forti continued to deny Boston and both teams’ defenses tightened up.
American broke the stalemate with around six minutes to go in the third quarter, as junior midfielder Reagan Murdoch scored her first goal of the game to cut the deficit to 2. After more saves from Forti, Terrier attacker Hannah Tillier scored her second goal of the game, giving the Terriers the 6-3 lead at the end of the third quarter.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the momentum swung in favor of American as its offense finally started to wake up and generated more pressure on Boston. Forti came up with two saves during this period, keeping the Eagles in the game before Murdoch scored twice — completing her hat trick and bringing her season total to 38 goals and reducing the lead to 6-5, Boston.
“A run is three goals, and you make that easily — and obviously we pulled within one. We had a lot of momentum moments and we just need to clean up a few things,” head coach Lindsay Teeters said.
But from that moment on it was all Boston, which had a surge of 6 goals in the last four minutes, including 3 goals in less than a minute, which totaled up the final score to 12-5.
Despite the loss, Teeters heaped praise on her graduating seniors. “They’ve given so much to the program and I’m really proud of all they’ve given. I’m proud of the legacy they are going to leave.”
The Eagles rounded out the season at home against Navy on April 24 at 1 p.m.
This article was edited by Connor Sturniolo, Penelope Jennings and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Olivia Citarella.
