It isn’t every varsity team that prepares for a big game with guided meditation. “Breathe in. I know I am breathing in. Breathe out. I know I am breathing out,” field hockey assistant coach Tracey Paul tells the  team in a calm and reassuring tone. She encourages the athletes, urging them to visualize entering the field, teammates by their side, executing various plays they’ve gone over in practice.

It’s a stark contrast to the scene in the locker room shortly after. Music blares as players dance to shake out pregame jitters. Just before heading out to the field, cocaptain Sofi Laurito (COM’16) leads a call and response chant as the players huddle in a tight circle, arms around each other.

The interesting, if unconventional, mix of rituals has proven a winning prescription this year. The Terriers captured their second consecutive Patriot League championship with a 2-1 victory over American at New Balance Field on November 2, earning the program’s 12th NCAA berth. Sadly, their dreams of capturing a national title ended with a 4-2 loss to number one–ranked University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the first round of the NCAA tournament on November 14. But their 15-7 record overall, the most season wins since 2007, and 6-0 in conference play added up to a stunning 2015 performance.

“Nobody wanted this season to end,” says 35-year head coach Sally Starr, who is ranked fifth in all-time career wins among active Division I coaches, with 437. “Winning the conference championship was definitely the highlight of this season. Going undefeated in conference play was a great accomplishment and also having the opportunity to host the Patriot League tournament was great.”

The coach “does a great job at making practices competitive while we learn at the same time,” says cocaptain Rachel Coll (Questrom’16). “We’re a team that practices just as hard as we play, and that showed this year.”

The field hockey team asserted dominance in four league shutout wins, none bigger than the 6-0 rout of Bucknell on October 24. The home victory over the Bison on Senior Day clinched the team’s first-ever Patriot League regular season title and secured home field for the league playoffs.

Another pivotal moment came in the Patriot League tournament semifinals 13 days later: the Terriers took a 3-2 overtime thriller against Bucknell, with Sofi Laurito’s three-goal hat trick contributing to her winning the Patriot League Tournament MVP. Laurito led the team this year in goals, with 16, and points, with 35.

“Since the very beginning of the season, we set out a bunch of goals, and the thing I’m going to remember the most is how much everybody fought in order to achieve those goals,” says Laurito, a two-time Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year, whose 32 goals over four years ties her for fourth all-time at BU. “It was a really fun season.”

Josh Gutchess can be reached at jgutch12@bu.edu.