By Ben Seal The Daily Free Press

April 22, 2008

Boston, MA (UWIRE) -- With home-field advantage for the America East Tournament already secured, the Boston University women's lacrosse team held nothing back Saturday in beating the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, 14-5, at UMBC Stadium to complete a flawless conference season.

The Terriers (13-2, 6-0 AE) stretched their winning streak to 10 games, and with just one game left before the postseason begins, they have established themselves as one of the hottest teams in the nation.

Led by a five-goal performance from junior Sarah Dalton and smothering defense that left the Retrievers scoreless for roughly 30 minutes, BU wrapped up its first perfect season in America East play since 2005. With a midweek contest at Dartmouth College the only roadblock before the playoffs, the Terriers are only getting better.

"We were solid on both ends of the field. I don't think we let up at all," said BU coach Liz Robertshaw. "We were very aggressive. I thought it was a really good team win for us."

After struggling to secure its toughest win of the season against the University of New Hampshire a week ago, BU had a much easier task against UMBC. The Retrievers would have made their way into the conference playoffs with a victory, but lacked the offensive firepower to beat a Terrier squad playing at the top of its game, and ended up in a three-way tie for fourth place in the conference.

BU once again started the game strong, jumping out to an early lead on a goal by sophomore McKinley Curro. The Terriers have failed to score first just twice all year, and the opportunity to front-run has been critical for BU in every contest it's won. Saturday was more of the same, as the Terriers ripped off five straight goals to start the game and buried the Retrievers before the first half finished.

"I think we're playing well for right now, but getting into the playoffs we have to continue to get better in order to move along as far as we possibly can go," Robertshaw said. "All of our attackers know that there are one or two shots they wish they could take back. I want us to focus on that so when we get to a game where we don't get as many looks, you know that when you get them you're going to put them away."

While BU's attack found ways to deposit the ball in the UMBC net - with eight different players scoring goals - the defense shut down the Retrievers, keeping them off the scoreboard until more than 20 minutes had elapsed. Sophomore goalkeeper Rachel Klein played a big part in the defensive success, protecting the net by blocking nine UMBC shots.

"The best thing about [Klein's] game is her ability to stay intense throughout the entire game and stay focused. I think in some earlier games it was harder," Robertshaw said. "She was very focused, very aggressive, very talkative throughout the game [Saturday]."

After the Terriers allowed UMBC to climb back in the contest during a stretch where they scored four out of their five goals to cut BU's lead to 6-4, the Terriers slammed the door shut by countering with an eight-goal run to put the game out of reach. With the offense kicked into high gear, there was nothing the Retrievers could do to prevent yet another blowout for an energetic BU team seeking conference perfection.

Skating through their America East schedule unblemished was an important part of the year for the Terriers, whose roster is made up of young, inexperienced players.

"It's important to show people that we can be successful, even being a younger team. So many people have said, 'You don't have enough seniors. You have too many freshmen and sophomores,'" Robertshaw said. "It doesn't matter what class you are when you step on the field. It matters if you can play our game and play it together."

The Terriers will take their impressive record on the road to Dartmouth on Wednesday before returning home to host the America East Championship April 25 and 27 at Nickerson Field. BU will kick off the postseason with a game against the fourth-seeded University at Albany in the first round of the conference tournament.

"Whenever you're winning, you're always happier. That's just a given," Robertshaw said. "But they have to realize that you can't let up right now, and that's something we've been drilling into the players' heads. Yes, we have a 10-game winning streak, but we have no more guaranteed games."

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