After an inconsistent start to the season, the Boston University women’s soccer team kicks off conference play Sunday against the University at Albany at Nickerson Field.
The Great Danes (2-9-2) are perennial cellar dwellers of the America East conference and, in all likelihood, this isn’t the year the team comes up the basement stairs. Albany is mired in a seven-game losing streak, most recently dropping a match to Sacred Heart University, 1-0, last Sunday.
Albany has been outscored 26-10 this season, getting shut out four times. The Great Danes have allowed three or more goals five times and have been outshot 172-155.
While the Terriers’ (5-5-0) struggles so far in 2008 have been primarily against strong competition, the Great Danes have played half their schedule against sub-.500 teams. Their worst outing of the year came against Siena College, where they were routed 4-0. Three of the goals came in the first half, and two goals came within five minutes of each other. The decisive blow came when a Great Dane defender tipped in an own goal after the ball had hit the crossbar.
The Terriers, meanwhile, seem to be turning their season around, winning four of their last six games, with all the victories coming by way of a shutout.
Since 2004, the Terriers are 4-0 against the Great Danes, outscoring them by an 18-1 margin.
In their showdown last season — a 4-0 thrashing by BU — the Terriers outshot the Great Danes 16-5. Fifteen of the Terriers’ shots were on goal, and they managed to force four corner kicks while the Great Danes had none. Then-junior Marisha Schumacher-Hodge had two assists and a goal, while midfielder Emily Pallotta registered a goal and an assist.
Despite the recent success against Albany, BU coach Nancy Feldman said her team wouldn’t underestimate its weekend opponent.
“Albany is a much improved team this year and has been improving the last couple of years,” Feldman said. “Their new coach [Mary-Frances Monroe] in the last couple of years has done a very good job of bringing in more talent and getting them to play with a stronger mentality. This is by no means a cakewalk team.
“When the conference season starts, everyone has hope. Everybody is in the same place. This conference game is the most important game of the season because we either get three points, one point or no points. Once that whistle sounds, we don’t have a chance to get those points back. We have a chance to get three — we have to get three.”
Feldman was encouraged by the way the Terrier offense performed Wednesday night in a 1-0 win over Brown University. The offense had struggled mightily in two games the previous weekend, and the team decided it would play much more aggressively against the Bears.
The result was a game in which the Terriers blistered the Brown defense with a flurry of shots, totaling 20 in the game.
“We want to continue on what we did Wednesday night, and that is get aggressive in the attack, get numbers forward and find executing moments,” Feldman said. “We need to take as many shots as we can. Hopefully, we can take shots from finding holes. Mainly we need to build on what we did against Brown, having the offense be confident and poised.”
More than anything, Feldman hopes to see a consistent effort out of her squad and to walk away from Nickerson still undefeated in conference play.
“Part of being a great team is getting better every day,” Feldman said. “My expectation is that we’re going to take a step forward on Sunday.”