The task looked difficult enough before Tuesday’s game at Harvard University, but after playing 110 minutes of soccer it got even tougher.
The schedule shaped up so that the Boston University women’s soccer team would be playing four games in nine days.
The difficulty of the schedule is expected to take its toll in the last two games of the stretch, which will both be played against America East foes. The Terriers will take on the University of Vermont tonight at 7 p.m. at Nickerson Field and will then travel to Orono to face the University of Maine at noon on Sunday. When the Terriers are done on Sunday afternoon, they will have finished a third of their conference schedule and hope to still have their five-game unbeaten streak in tact.
Coach Nancy Feldman acknowledged that the team’s current stretch is indeed the toughest nine days on the schedule when she spoke on Tuesday afternoon after the double-overtime thriller.
‘Now we have a tough week,’ she said. ‘We put a lot of energy into [Tuesday’s game]. You have to. I just don’t think you can say well, it’s not a conference game. You can’t have that mentality and ultimately be successful.’
The intensity of Tuesday’s game was evident by the multiple injury stoppages during the game, as well as the team’s emotion both on the field and on the sidelines.
However, Feldman was aware that her players would have to bounce back in time for the game against the Catamounts just 48 hours later. Once overtime became a likely possibility late in the second half, she began a flurry of substitutions that not only showcased the Terriers’ depth and versatility, but also saved the legs of most of her team.
Senior tri-captain Lesley Garvey sat out both overtimes and her captain counterpart, senior forward Rebecca Beyer, sat out a majority of the minutes in the extra sessions. Sophomore forward Melissa Shulman, who sat out last year with leg ailments, also sat out the first seven minutes of double overtime. Freshman back Lauren Erwin sat out the overtimes as well.
A rest at the end of Tuesday’s game will be enough to keep the BU players from fatigue since most of them did play 90 minutes. So Feldman’s plan is to keep practices as light as possible.
‘We have to go light on [Wednesday] and play hard on Thursday,’ she said.
On Thursday, BU will face a Vermont team that has been resting since last Friday when they tied Central Connecticut State University, 3-3. The Terriers’ main concern for the Catamounts will be Nikkie Hessney, who has scored seven goals (half of Vermont’s season total) this season while adding an assist.
Three days later the Terriers will try to hand the Black Bears their first conference loss and only second loss overall. Maine’s schedule has been favorable so far, stacked with four home games against small conference teams.
The two common opponents between the Terriers and Black Bears are Harvard and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Maine defeated UMBC 2-0 last week the same score BU won by but the Crimson handed them their sole loss of the season 3-0 in mid-September.
But before the Terriers can think stretch their unbeaten streak to seven games they need to extend it to six tonight.
‘We have to get a win on Thursday. We’re the better team on Thursday,’ Feldman said. ‘We need to come out and prove it.’