Field hockey drops opening match to UConn

PRINCETON, N.J. - Erin Prediger, helmet off and red-faced, hugged Sally Starr in the middle of a sea of scarlet skirts and jerseys on the sideline of Princeton's Class of 1952 Stadium.

The other members of the Boston University field hockey team were doing the same, sharing embraces and trying to hold it together. But it was Prediger who stood out in the middle, sharing a moment with her coach of the last five years, tears rolling down her cheek.

And who could blame her?

Her team had just been eliminated by the University of Connecticut, 3-0, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, putting a close to the 2006 season and finishing the collegiate careers of Prediger and her fellow fifth-year seniors, Amy Seaman and Erin Calamari.

"That's the most heartbreaking part about today's loss - saying goodbye to them," Starr said. "Not only are they four-year seniors, but they're fifth-year seniors. I think they're proud of what they accomplished as seniors this year and I think they would love to play tomorrow, but I think they feel they left their hearts out on the field today.

"That's where the tears are about this loss, not because of losing but because of the seniors," she continued.

The seniors, along with the rest of the Terriers, fell behind three goals in the first half. It started less than 10 minutes in, when UConn's Lizzy Peijs carried the ball down the left side of the field and centered it in front of the net, where Kristen Galuski tipped it home for the 1-0 advantage. It was Galuski's ninth goal of the season and Peijs' 58th point.

"Their strikers are very dangerous. They took advantage of scoring situations and also created a lot of dangerous shots," Starr said. "They're very good on the forestick and they're very good on the reverse side."

Lauren Aird doubled the score in the 26th minute, when she fielded the ball in the center of the circle and, with a defender on her back, spun around and blasted a heat-seeker into the bottom-right corner of the net.

But the Huskies weren't done yet. Less than six minutes later Galuski struck again, carrying the ball parallel to the right end line, where she ran untouched to the Terrier net before slipping the ball 5-hole on Prediger.

"I think we were backing off of that. You need to step up on that," Starr said. "You can't leave players in what we call 'Area 1', which is obviously the most dangerous spot to leave a player free."

Meanwhile the Terrier offense was having a tough time getting the ball into dangerous territory, with the only real threat coming in the very first minute of play.

The Terriers didn't mount much of anything else in the first frame, recording only two shots and failing to generate any amount of cohesiveness, with Terrier passes repeatedly finding the stick of a Husky intruder.

"I don't think our passing game got in any type of rhythm," Starr said. "And I don't think it was so much what Connecticut was doing as opposed to what we weren't doing. We played a little bit too much like a hot potato with it."

But the Terriers ended any games with starchy hot objects in the second half, when they came out flowing, looking much more organized and composed.

"I think the first half we were playing more nervous, but the second half we shook [the nerves] out," Calamari said. "I think we played for fun and went out there and played a hard game and went after all the balls."

"We pressed better, were a little more confident, a little more aggressive," Starr said. "I think we read the game better, played off of each other - especially defensively. I think, offensively we still stayed out of sync."

The Terriers did limit UConn's opportunities while finally getting some dangerous ones of their own. They out-shot the Huskies, 7-6, in the second half and proved they could play with the team responsible for their last loss, a 6-0 defeat in BU's only home defeat of the season Oct. 18.

"It's not like we came out flat and just weren't there," Seaman said. "It seemed like we just faced a better team."

Since that Oct. 18 loss to UConn, the Terriers had gone 6-0, including two wins in the America East Tournament that gave them the conference championship for the second straight year. That, according to Starr, is what she will value most from the 2006 campaign.

"I'm just really glad we walked off this field feeling like we played a good last 35 minutes of hockey" Starr said. "Back-to-back conference championships, I'm really proud of what this team has accomplished."