For the No. 25 Boston University women’s soccer team, what looks to be a entertaining postseason will officially kick off Saturday afternoon.
Fresh off winning their first Patriot League Championship, the Terriers (14-3-4, 8-1-0 Patriot League) will return home to Nickerson Field to face local rivals Harvard University in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. This will be the team’s 11th trip to the NCAA Tournament and its first return to postseason play since 2011.
The two teams last faced each other at Nickerson on Oct. 8, where they battled to a 1-1 draw following goals by Harvard freshman Margaret Purce and BU senior midfielder Megan McGoldrick.
BU has been riding a hot streak for the past two months following a loss in September to the U.S. Naval Academy by a score of 1-0. The Terriers lost that game in heartbreaking fashion on an own goal. Since then, the Terriers have outscored their opponents 18-2 and remain unbeaten for the past 12 games — a mark that has helped the Terriers earn the spot as nationally-ranked team.
While coach Nancy Feldman has been successful in getting her team motivated to play in November, winning the matches has been a different story. Despite taking her team to 10 NCAA Tournaments, the Patriot League Coach of the Year has a sub-.500 record in the tournament.
Still, Feldman said that she is not all that worried, as a new team and a new year means a new opportunity to find success in the postseason.
“The culture of this program isn’t to worry about winning as much as it is asking ourselves, ‘Did we work real hard and were we the best we could be?’” Feldman said. “When you do all of that well, there’s no doubt that success will follow. … It sets the foundation for good things to come.”
As usual, the Terriers will once again rely on a solid core of senior players and rookie contributors to complement their aggressive play. While senior goalkeeper Andrea Green and senior forward Madison Clemens will draw attention on the field, all eyes will be on Patriot League Rookie of the Year Erica Kosienski, the team’s leading scorer this season who has recorded five game-winning goals on the year.
All three players played a major role in securing the Patriot League Championship last Sunday. Kosienski made the lone difference by rocketing a shot to the left side of the net in the 42nd minute, while Clemens added in a shot on goal that nearly extended the lead late in the second half. Green’s shutout and two saves for the night earned her the tournament’s Most Valuable Player award.
Harvard (12-3-2) also has a lot of momentum going into the tournament with a 14-game unbeaten streak, as well as its 11th Ivy League title. The Crimson has been leaning on Purce for most of their offense this season. The forward leads the team with 26 points on 11 goals and four assists, and has been a key component to Harvard’s aggressive offense, along with senior forward Elizabeth Weisman (14 points) and freshman forward Karly Zlatic (10 points).
“She’s really good,” Feldman said about Purce. “[She’s] gonna be tough, and that’s just gonna be a really tough kid [to defend] cause she’s just so fast. We’re gonna really need to do a good job on her come Sunday.
Editor’s note: Some of the quotes in the original form of this story were found to be inaccurate. They have since been removed.
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