Alesandra Miller reserved her celebration until she was sure. The sophomore midfielder almost didn’t notice that she had scored her first goal as a member of Boston College field hockey three minutes into the game against Northeastern.
“I hesitated to cheer,” she said.
With great congestion in the box, even spectators on the sidelines couldn’t tell right away if the ball had found the back of the net. But six minutes later, when she scored her second goal, Miller didn’t pause. Such began a game that resulted in a 6-1 BC win.
Less than 10 minutes after Alesandra Miller’s goals, powerful forward Kelcie Hromisin also scored two goals, assisted by Leah Frome and Elizabeth Dennehy, respectively. Hromisin contributed five shots to BC’s total shot count of 31. Freshman Lucy Lytle led the game with seven shots, while Northeastern only notched 13 shots total. Northeastern goalie Becky Garner stayed resolute throughout the match, saving 14 shots, with 12 of them in the second half.
BC goalie Leah Settipane showed her defensive prowess, falling into a split at one point to prevent a shot to the right corner, which she deflected off her foot. Settipane also celebrated a special milestone: this game against the Huskies counted as her 40th win. BC’s record is 41 wins, putting Settipane on a track to break the record this season. She managed five saves against the Huskies, playing 58 minutes until backup goalie Audra Hampsch came in as relief. Hampsch had one save in 11 minutes of play.
The Huskies attempted to force a goal on six penalty corners, with two back-to-back in the second half, but BC’s defense managed to clear the ball out of dangerous territory. In the 50th minute, however, Northeastern forward June Curry-Lindahl hit a shot in the far corner. The Huskies could not rally behind the goal, though, and 12 minutes later, Lytle scored with an assist from Eryn McCoy. Just 12 seconds before the end of the game, Dennehy blasted an unassisted goal off a breakaway into Northeastern’s net, running hard past the Huskies’ defense.
Despite a blowout by the Eagles, head coach Kelly Doton believed that not all of the players were up to snuff.
“I think our technical skills let us down a bit,” Doton said.
Coming off a loss to Syracuse in which the Eagles blew a first-half lead, the Eagles held together well to prevent a repeat. Miller’s goals came partly as a result of Doton’s coaching strategy for a non-conference game.
“We got a chance to play a lot of our players and rest a lot of our key players,” Doton said. Miller, who usually plays as a substitute, started this game and had the opportunity to score.
To sweeten the victory, the Eagles played in front of several young field hockey players. After an exciting game, the players met with the girls, signed autographs, and took photos.
The Eagles will show their skills again on Friday in a conference game against UNC. BC is 0-1 in conference play, and a win against the Tar Heels would count immensely in a six-game ACC season. In order to duplicate today’s results, Miller said that the team needs to bring their high energy to Chapel Hill.
“We’ll be ready to go by Friday,” she said.
Doton, on the other hand, wants more than just energy.
“It’s our ability to execute the basics,” she said. “We’ll continue that next week in our practice. Hopefully it’ll be a great game against UNC.”
Featured Image by Drew Hoo / Heights Editor
