In a match where the rain clouds were moving as quickly as the shots off the stick of Massachusetts senior defender Thando Zono, the No. 25 UMass field hockey team was defeated by No. 12 Boston University in double overtime, 3-2, at Garber Field on Wednesday.

Terriers (6-2) freshman Rachel Coll found the back of the cage in the 86th minute for her first career goal off an assist from junior midfielder Ella Gunson. Gunson cut across the middle of the goal, which attracted multiple Minutewomen (3-5) defenders right before she dumped a pass to Coll for the win.

Zono said that watching the final goal was not the way she expected the game to end, dropping UMass’ home record to 0-3.

“I was very disappointed that it happened,” Zono said. “It was unlucky, I guess.”

Although numerous players from each team slipped on the soaked turf that was rained on throughout the day, Minutewomen coach Carla Tagliente said that the weather did not affect her team’s play.

“I thought it was going to be a lot worse than this and we prepared for a lot worse so I don’t think it had much of an impact,” she said.

The Minutewomen proved that when junior midfielder Alexa Sikalis netted her first goal of the season just 45 seconds into the game. On the goal, BU sophomore goaltender Valentina Cerda Eimbcke was forced out of the net to contest the UMass attack when Sikalis squirted the ball past Cerda Eimbcke to give the Minutewomen the 1-0 lead.

Tagliente has stressed the importance of taking early leads over the past few games.

“We talked about that before the last game and we talked about that before this game and they have executed things that we have asked them to,” she said.

The Terriers came fighting back at the 17:25 mark, scoring off of a penalty corner, something BU did on both of its goals during regulation.

Tagliente said the Terriers possess an impressive penalty corner unit and when they get rolling, defenders are all but helpless to stop them.

“BU has a strong penalty corner unit and that showed today,” she said. “When they have that clean execution like that, there is not much you really can do.”

Senior forward Nicole Cordero put UMass back on top, 2-1, after she won a scrum for the ball with multiple BU defenders.

But as the season’s story has gone, the Minutewomen let up another goal, allowing the Terriers to tie the game at two.

UMass, along with BU, were unable to score in the second half after the Terriers replaced goalkeeper Jess Maroney for Cerda Eimbacke to start the frame.

Zono had a major impact in BU’s struggle to score in the second half, as she used her entire body to deflect shots off target. In the second half, Zono took a shot off the face after diving in front of a Terriers forward to properly defend the goal. She was able to return shortly after being evaluated by the UMass training staff.

Zono said she saw an uncontested player and did what she had to do to ensure the goal’s safety.

“She was open so she would have had a clear shot so I just jumped in front of it and I felt a big thud on my forehead,” she said.

Tagliente said the key for future success is for her team to envision being on the attack more on offense.

“I think as a team we realize we can score goals, but we have to have the expectation that we are going to score four (or) five goals and not score one and defend the entire game,” she said. “It is a mindset we are trying to instill.”
UMass is back in action next on Friday afternoon, when it hosts Vermont at Garber Field.

Matt Levine can be reached at [email protected].