Departments
Sports
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Week of 7 November 1997 |
Vol. I, No. 11 |
Sports
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Expect a physical field hockey playoff game against DelawareGame Preview By Brian Fitzgerald It was the field of screams. The last time BU's field hockey team played Delaware, two Terriers suffered injuries. Cocaptain Sharon Eifes (SAR'98) broke her nose when she collided with an opponent. Then goaltender Noreen Flanagan (SAR'01) took a stick to the neck. Needless to say, it was a physical game. BU's record took a beating as well. The 2-1 loss to the Blue Hens was the Terriers' fourth in a row -- the low point of the season. Boston University averaged just 1.5 goals a game during the losing streak. The team, which posted a 6-4 record in its first 10 games, was 6-8 after being dropped by Delaware. It was time to turn the season around or pack it in. Boston University responded by winning four of its final five games. Flanagan and Eifes also bounced back. Flanagan posted shutouts in the two games following the Delaware disaster, and Eifes ended the regular season in grand fashion, scoring both of the Terriers' goals in BU's 2-1 victory over Providence. In fact, Flanagan made two big saves in the final minute of the Providence game, ensuring a winning season (10-9) and momentum going into the conference tournament.
If BU wins on November 7, it will play the winner of the Northeastern-Maine game for the conference championship on Sunday, November 9, at 1 p.m. The America East titleholder gets an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament. Coach Sally Starr knows her team will have to win the league crown to continue playing: an at-large NCAA tournament bid seems unlikely with the Terriers' record. After BU lost to Northeastern, 1-0, in the 1995 America East playoffs, the Terriers were forced to play the waiting game to see if they would receive a bid to the national tournament. But Boston University, which was 7-1-0 in the conference, 16-6-0 overall, and boasted three All-Americans, was left hanging out to dry. The season was over. Last year the Huskies were once again the villains, earning a hard-fought 4-3 overtime victory in the America East championship game. But the Terriers had 18 victories -- their most ever -- and were invited to the NCAA tournament, where they lost in the opening round to Princeton, 5-4. "Losing in the first round made a lasting impression on us," says Starr. "We were enjoying one of our best seasons in program history, but in the span of one afternoon, it was suddenly over. We don't want that to happen again." Brookline's Parsons Field is on Kent Street: follow Beacon Street outbound and take the left after Borland Street. Parsons Field is a half-mile down on the left (the Brookline Village stop on the Green Line's D train). |
Athletes of the Week
Karl Rasmussen and Rosemary Ryan
First-place finishes by European runners Karl Rasmussen (CAS'98) and Rosemary Ryan (SAR'98) enabled Boston University's men's and women's cross country teams to capture conference titles at the America East championships in Durham, N.H., on November 1.
Rasmussen, from Haugesund, Norway, ran the five-mile course with a time of 24:43. One of the region's dominant runners, Rasmussen has won four America East titles and three New England championships. In 1995 he finished 52nd in the NCAA championships.
Ryan, a native of Bilboa, Ireland, recorded a time of 17:44 on the 3.1-mile course at the conference championships, besting the course record by almost one minute. After transferring to BU from the University of Limerick in January of 1996, she won the America East track title in the 3,000-meter run.
The BU men's cross country team has won the America East title for the ninth straight year, while the women Terriers have captured the conference crown for the seventh time in nine years.
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