The Boston University women’s soccer team has advanced to five of the past seven NCAA tournaments, a run of dominance hard for American East Conference coaches to ignore.
So, when the head coaches of the nine America East teams made their pre-season predictions for the coming season, BU was picked to finish first for the fourth straight year. The Terriers received eight first-place votes and 64 points overall, while the University of Hartford finished second in the polling with 54 points, including one first-place vote.
The Terriers finished with a conference record of 6-1-1 last year, with their only regular-season conference blemish coming against Hartford. The Hawks went on to win the conference title over the University of Maine, which was picked to finish third this year. Maine knocked the Terriers out in the semifinals on penalty kicks after scoreless regulation and overtime periods.
BU was ranked 27th in the pre-season National Soccer Coaching Association of America rankings. The Terriers’ defeat of then-No. 3 Santa Clara University in Palo Alto, Calif. last season boosted their image on the national stage and helped propel BU to its first-ever at-large NCAA tournament bid.
After losing to No. 5 Stanford University, 2-0, and defeating Princeton University, 1-0, on Sunday, BU dropped to No. 36 in the nation.
The Terriers are ranked the third best team in the Northeast regional rankings. They trail No.10 Boston College, whom they play Sept. 12, and No. 17 University of Connecticut, which went 1-1 in the BU Invitational.
Preseason picks
The Hermann Trophy doesn’t carry the same prestige as the Heisman Trophy or even the Hobey Baker Award, but for women’s soccer it is the top individual honor in the collegiate game. Junior midfielder Marisha Schumacher-Hodge was recently named to the Hermann Trophy Watch List by the NSCAA.
Schumacher-Hodge is one of 46 players on the Watch List and is the lone representative from America East. Last year she tallied three goals and four assists, and was named the America East Midfielder of the Year and selected to the NSCAA Northeast Region Second Team.
“Marisha is an outstanding player who we rely on to really get our offense going,” said BU coach Nancy Feldman. “She is very important on free kicks and corner kicks and she is excellent at taking the ball to goal.”
Four other Hermann watch list players competed at this week’s Terrier Invitational. On Friday, she competed against Stanford sophomore forward Kelley O’Hara and senior defender Rachel Buehler. Connecticut junior defender Brittany Taylor and midfielder Meghan Schnur were also in action at Nickerson Field.
In November, the list will be cut to 15 semi-finalists, followed by the naming of three finalists before a winner is selected in January. Despite not tallying a point in BU’s first two games, Schumacher-Hodge still displayed an ability to evade defenders and find open teammates.
Striking the right cords
Schumacher-Hodge has already earned national and regional honors, and with the way freshman back Angelina Cords played in her first two games it appears she could follow in her predecessor’s footsteps.
Cords was tabbed to start in BU’s first game against a very talented Stanford squad and looked right at ease in her first collegiate action. Cords did a great job of moving the ball forward when given the opportunity, and her line drive free kicks from beyond the midfield line nearly led to Terrier goals on a few occasions. In BU’s second game against Princeton, she sent a free kick that sophomore midfielder Emily Pallotta punched home for the first goal of the season.
“Lina is a physical specimen and her leg is going to be dangerous weapon for BU the next four years,” Feldman said. “It is a good thing we don’t have a football team or the coach would come and try to make her the place kicker.”
Instead of getting wrapped up in personal accolades, Cords is most concerned about doing whatever she can to help the team.
“I am just trying to do my best to make the team better and do what I can to help us win more games,” the Leonardtown, Md. native said.
The freshest
Cords is part of a recruiting class that SoccerBuzz Magazine named the best in America East for the sixth time in the last seven years. Regionally BU’s seven-member class was ranked fifth, and it was ranked 53rd nationally of more than 300 Division I women’s soccer programs.
SoccerBuzz noted that freshman forward Tiya Gallegos from Lakewood, Calif. is probably the best of the bunch. Gallegos saw her first action of the season against Princeton. In BU’s first two games, five of seven true freshmen saw action.