By Seth OrenskyAs the halftime horn blared the 12th ranked Lady Terriers (2-0) walked off the field with their heads down and into a collective mass around head coach Elizabeth Robertshaw. Trailing 4 to 3 to the Brown Bears they knew they shouldn’t be losing to a Brown team that was unranked. They knew that they had been outhustled and outplayed at points by a team that had less talent. And they knew that they did not want to disappoint their parents and friends who had come out to support them in their home opener despite the snow flakes, high winds and freezing temperatures.
But while the other twenty-three players listened quietly to Robertshaw’s advice it was senior goalkeeper Rachel Klein (’10) who took it into her own hands to change the game. Klein made all five of her saves in the second half and scrambled all over the field for the Terriers as they pulled away for a 9-5 victory.
“Defensively Rachel Klein was fantastic. She just came alive, we unfortunately put Brown on the line a little too much but Rachel was wonderful,” coach Robertshaw said. “I thought she played one hell of a 2nd half.”
While Klein provided the defensive theatrics, the Terriers scored six straight goals in the second half to take control of the game including three from sophomore midfielder Hannah Frey (’12). Frey led the Terriers with four goals and an assist after having to sit out the team’s first game with an injury.
“She’s [Frey] had a great preseason and so we were looking forward to getting her back in,” Robertshaw said. “She’s confident, the kid just in practice she shows the intensity, the confidence and the scoring power and she did it today. And so when the ball’s in her stick and I told her I want it in your stick, I knew she was going to score.”
After BU took early 1-0 and 3-2 leads, Brown (1-1) stormed back with two goals in the last minute of play to take the lead into halftime. Senior midfielder Kara Kelley (’10) tied the game at three with 1:03 left in the half before junior midfielder Alexa Caldwell (’11) gave Brown the lead off a free position shot with 16 seconds left. The midfielder started off ten feet away from Klein as the whistle blew and took three steps before burying her shot in the top right corner over Klein’s stick. Unfortunately for the Bears it would be the last shot Klein would let go by for nearly thirty minutes.
BU jumped on the Bears early in the second half as the Terriers scored three goals in the first five and a half minutes opening up a two goal lead. But the game changed right after the Terriers third goal of the half.
With Brown controlling the ball for over 2 minutes and circling Klein’s cage, the senior captain made her first two saves of the afternoon both off point blank saves including one of a free possession shot. Twice Klein found herself out of her net trying to intercept the ball when Brown got a shot on net only to be denied by a BU defender. The defensive stand and Klein’s assertive play seemed to energize the Terriers and deflate the pesky Brown squad.
“It’s been something [Klein’s aggressive play] that if she’s confident in it we’re 100% behind her and Anne encourages her to do that, her goalkeeper coach,” Coach Robertshaw said. “And the defense plays off it, I think you see when she goes out and makes those interceptions or goes for those risks, the entire team is behind her. It really lifts the team up and that’s something I’m going to look for her to keep doing.”
With Klein’s aggressive defense preventing Brown from making a comeback, the Terriers dominated the ball and the scoreboard. Frey scored her third and fourth goals of the night in a span of forty three seconds, to put the game out of reach with 11 minutes to go. Two late goals, one by each team, rounded out the scoring, as the Terriers celebrated their first home game since they won the America East Tournament at Nickerson Field last May.
The Terriers next game will be this Sunday at Nickerson Field against William and Mary University at 1PM.
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