Field Hockey Looks to Defend Patriot League Title Under New Leadership
The field hockey team jogs onto New Balance Field ahead of their game against Dartmouth, September 6. The Terriers routed the Big Green 5-1. Photo by Eliza Nuestro/BU Athletics
Field Hockey Looks to Defend Patriot League Title Under New Leadership
Terriers will host Lehigh University Saturday
The Boston University field hockey team entered Patriot League play this season in search of momentum.
The team lost five of its first eight games, three of them by just a single goal or in a shootout. First-year head coach Sarah Shute says the 4-1 loss at Bryant University on September 18 proved to be a turning point.
“It was eye-opening to us,” Shute (SHA’08, Wheelock’17) says. “It showed us how we need to make sure that we’re showing up every day, how we’re communicating with each other, how we’re holding each other accountable.”
BU has outscored opponents 12-3 in the two games since—wins over the University of New Hampshire and Bucknell University. Opening Patriot League play at Bucknell, BU beat the Bison 7-2 behind sophomore Lucy Johnson (CAS‘29), who scored four goals—the first Terrier to do so since 1996. She now ranks third in the nation with 11 goals.
After winning consecutive games for the first time this year, BU moved to 4-5 overall and 1-0 in conference play.
While the season’s start wasn’t what the players wanted, they’ve been through it before. Last year, the No. 4-seeded Terriers carried a losing record into the Patriot League tournament, then won three straight, including a 3-1 win over Lafayette College in the final.
This year’s roster includes 16 returners from that team—including Caroline O’Brien (Questrom‘26, Questrom’27), who scored a hat trick in last year’s final. But the team knows that to duplicate that success, they can’t rest on their laurels.
“We have to earn every win, every goal that we get going into Patriot League play because other teams are going to fight as hard as us,” co-captain Maddie Hudson (Questrom‘26, MET ‘27) says. “We won last year, but that doesn’t mean anything this year.”
Hudson, who missed her freshman, sophomore, and senior seasons due to injury, has hit the ground running.
“Producing the way she has been, she hasn’t missed a beat,” Shute says of Hudson. “It’s been really awesome to watch.”
In the season opener, her first game back in nearly two years, Hudson found the back of the net. She has scored four goals and tallied 11 points so far, tied for second-most on the team.
“It’s great being back out and playing with all my best friends and having a blast,” Hudson says. Even when she was sidelined, her impact was felt. She was named a co-captain last season, and Johnson says she has been integral to her own development on the field.
“I look up to Maddie and [Caroline O’Brien] a lot offensively, and they’ve really helped me become the player I am and gain confidence throughout every game,” Johnson says. “We work so well together.”
The team’s tight-knit culture is easy to see on the field. Shute notes that improving the passing game and playing selflessly has been a goal for the team this season.
“It’s made our offense a lot more aggressive and impactful in our circle,” Johnson says. “If we continue to do that, I think we can have the outcomes we want in the future.”
That culture extends off the field, too. Shute, who played at BU and later coached under longtime head coach Sally Starr, has built her first season around a motto: “honor the past, own the present, and leave a legacy.”
The Terriers will look to remain unbeaten in Patriot League play when they host Lehigh on Saturday and continue crafting the legacy they’ve worked toward. If they can keep improving, Shute says, the team can reach the same heights it did a year ago.
“When we play our game and we’re connecting with each other and celebrating each other and holding each other accountable, the sky’s the limit,” she says.
The Boston University field hockey team hosts Patriot League rival Lehigh University on Saturday, October 3, at 1 pm, on New Balance Field. Admission is free. The game will be livestreamed on ESPN+.