BOSTON —  The Boston University women's lacrosse team ended its regular season on Thursday with an 18-12 loss to the Holy Cross Crusaders at Nickerson Field.
 
The Terriers (8-8, 3-6 PL) needed a win to qualify for the Patriot League tournament and extend their season, but they got behind by eight goals entering the second half and could not muster enough of a rally as the Crusaders (9-7, 5-4 PL) clinched the No. 4 seed in the tournament with a win.
 
Despite a major halftime deficit, the Terriers rallied in the second half to cut it to a four-goal game, but the Crusaders defense stifled BU enough in the final quarter to pull away.
 
BU got four goals from junior Leah Hodgins — all in the first half — and a hat trick from sophomore Izabella Amonte. Graduate student Kendall Sims added two goals, an assist, two ground balls, two draw controls and two caused turnovers. Goaltender Natalie Aiosa stopped 10 shots in net.

On the Holy Cross side, four players had hat tricks in Sally Zinsner (5 goals), Riley Peters (5), Kate Avitabile (3) and Annabel Brennan (3). The Crusaders also dominated the draw by a 28-6 margin, including 20 draw controls from specialist Racheli Levy-Smith.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Crusaders kicked off the game with three straight goals in the first 6:42, also winning the first nine draws of the game.
• BU got on the board thanks to junior Leah Hodgins, who scored off an assist from graduate student Kendall Sims.
• Then Hodgins potted a goal unassisted with 5:49 remaining after backing up a missed shot.
• The Crusaders got another goal back to make it 4-2 before Izabella Amonte found the back of the net with 3:49 remaining in the first on a free position.
• Hodgins completed her hat trick with 1:47 left in the first, tying the game at 4-4 off an assist from senior Avery Jones.
• But before the first quarter could end, the Crusaders added a goal from leading goal-scorer Sally Zinsner with 38 seconds remaining in the quarter.
• Holy Cross opened up the second quarter with a goal, but sophomore Tessa Geddes responded immediately with a solo goal 1:25 into the frame.
• Then Geddes had an almost identical goal, beating her defender one-on-one and scoring with 11:54 left in the half, making it a 6-6 game.
• A 5-0 Holy Cross run ensued over the next 3:10, making it 11-6 with 7:04 left.
• Hodgins earned a free position and cashed in off a tough angle to cut it to 11-7.
• The Crusaders then added a 4-0 run to end the half, taking a 15-7 lead into the break.
• The Crusaders once again opened the scoring in the next quarter, scoring with 12:54 remaining, but it would be almost 20 minutes before they would score again.
• BU unleashed a three-goal run to end the quarter, starting with Sims at 8:39.
• Then Amonte's 36^th goal of the season came with 7:42 remaining off a Jones assist on a free position play.
• Sims added another with 3:28 left and the Terriers were only down six entering the final frame.
• BU made it a five-goal contest with 10:26 left thanks to junior Elle Stevenson's first goal of the contest.
• Then a cutting Amonte took a pass from senior Hannah Tillier and secured a hat trick with 10:05 remaining, making it 16-12 Holy Cross.
• The Holy Cross defense, however, kept BU off the scoreboard for the final 10 minutes and even added two more goals of their own to secure the win.

 GAME NOTES

• The Crusaders outshot BU 39-20, the third-largest margin against the Terriers this season.
• BU won the turnover battle by one, with Holy Cross committing 22 to BU's 21.
• Holy Cross completed 16-of-19 clears while the Terriers only converted on 20-of-28.
• With her three goals, Amonte reached 42 points in her first season as a Terrier, marking the first 40-point season by a Terrier since 2023.
• Aiosa finishes the season with 152 saves, the most by a Terrier since 2018, when Christine Laible had 167.
• While the Terriers failed to qualify for the Patriot League tournament for the second year in a row, they improved upon a year ago by three wins and won two more Patriot League contests.
• The Terriers also scored 11 more goals than they had in 2024 and had four 30-point scorers compared to just two the year prior.
• BU will finish seventh in the Patriot League standings.