Field Hockey Season Likely Over

A season that began with such promise came to an abrupt end on Thursday for the field hockey team, as the Eagles were defeated by Wake Forest, 4-3, in the ACC quarterfinals on Saturday in College Park, Md. The Eagles got goals from Emma Plasteras, Jacqui Moorfield, and Maike de Jager but conceded a goal in the dying moments of the game and came up just short to the Demon Deacons for the second time in under a week.

Boston College came out strong against Wake Forest this time, playing a more offensive game than in the previous match with the Demon Deacons. The Eagles won an early corner, and de Jager managed to fire home the first goal of the game just 11 minutes in. Head coach Ainslee Lamb was very impressed by the play of her team.

"I thought it was one of the best games we played this year," she said. "You hope that you work and prepare hard enough during the season and you get better as a team, and I thought that this may have been the best game we've played all year and that was exciting for us."

The Eagles were indeed dominant at times during the game. They held a 23-6 shot advantage and an 11-3 edge in corners, but were unable to convert enough of their chances.

After jumping out to an early lead, the Eagles let up a goal in under two minutes, and then watched as Wake Forest scored twice more to take a 3-1 lead into halftime. BC refused to quit, however, when Moorfield converted on another corner with 24 minutes to go to bring the score to 3-2. Thirteen minutes after that, Plasteras banged home another goal to tie the score at three with just over 10 minutes left.

Then came heartbreak. Just when it seemed the game was headed for overtime, Wake Forest picked up the ball off a BC corner and started a counter attack. The Eagles kept the Demon Deacons on the outside, but Wake converted anyways, taking a 4-3 lead with 2:34 left. Though the Eagles applied some pressure, they could not get the goal back, and they lost.

"It's tough when you have the attack corner," Lamb said. "You can either choose to be conservative or aggressive, and we're generally much more aggressive with our style of play, so we put high numbers up there. And the one thing you really expose yourself to when you do that is the counterattack. We knew they were good with the counter attack, but defensively we did a pretty good job keeping them to the outside. It was really a no-angle goal that kind of snuck through. It wasn't anything that we did wrong."

Despite the difficult and abrupt end to the season, Lamb has much to be proud of. The Eagles this year climbed as high as No. 6 in the nation and were in serious contention for a NCAA tournament birth for much of the season. Even though the final game may be a disappointing way for the season to end, Lamb did not forget all the success that this year's team enjoyed.

"I honestly think this was one of the best teams we've ever fielded at BC," Lamb said. "I mean that in a talent perspective, but more importantly as just an incredible group of young women. They were all very cohesive, very supportive of each other, and a very dynamic group. There was a lot of personality out there. I know we won't have an opportunity to go the NCAA tournament, but I truly believe that they would be very successful in that environment."