The Boston University women’s soccer team made sure not to repeat the same mistake that the men did against the University of New Hampshire, as the women dominated from start to finish against University of Vermont, winning 4-0 Thursday night at Nickerson Field.
With the win, the Terriers improve to 8-4-2 and 4-0-0 in America East conference play while the Catamounts fall to an abysmal 1-8-3 and 1-1-1 in the conference.
BU wasted no time as junior Shauna Kelleher dribbled through the Vermont defense into box and fired a shot that was deflected by a defenseman into the top left corner of the net past UVM keeper Eliza Bradley. For Kelleher, it was her second goal of the year.
‘Shauna is a rock for us,’ BU coach Nancy Feldman said. ‘She just cleans up a lot of stuff at the midfield. She has this thankless job in there and wins a lot of air balls. It doesn’t get a lot of fanfare. She deserves it because she does a lot of the dirty work.’
Although up by one goal with the first half completed, Feldman was not happy with her team’s performance.
‘I thought our first half after the goal, which came early and easy, I thought we were passive and didn’t have the edge that I was looking for,’ Feldman said. ‘I just think the first goal came too easy and we thought we were going to be able to just coast through the game, and that is human nature. You only work as hard as you have to. But an excellent team and a championship team pushes themselves to rise above that and so I reminded them of that at halftime.’
It was d’eacute;j’agrave; vu as BU stormed out of the locker room only to score again in the first minute of the second half. Sophomore Jessica Luscinski dribbled down the left sideline before making a great pass, which was deflected off senior Farrell McClernon, to the foot of freshman Megan McGoldrick who fired it past Bradley.
Six minutes later, senior co-captain Emily Pallotta scored her team leading fourth goal of the year. After a scramble for the ball in the box, the ball came to Pallotta who found the back of the net to give BU a 3-0 lead.
‘It is definitely good to put another one in the net, but whatever it takes to win,’ Pallotta said. ‘It was just good for the team to come out against a great team like Vermont and get a 4-0 win.’
BU capped off a dominating performance when sophomore Tiya Gallegos one-timed a pass from sophomore Cynthia Warman past a diving Bradley. The goal was Gallegos’ first of the year.
‘Tiya Gallegos has been a real bonus for us off the bench,’ Feldman said. ‘She is our first forward off the bench. Physically, she is so strong and is hard to move off the ball. Now her mobility is coming along and her confidence is building. We need her contribution off the bench. She has really stepped up her game.’
Feldman said she was very pleased with her team’s performance in the second half as they stepped up their intensity and scored three more goals to put the game away.
‘In the second half, both individually and collectively, we found ways to be unpredictable and more mobile and attack, and I thought that was a key play to the game,’ Feldman said. ‘They played much better and dominated the second half and the tempo.’
The Terriers have continued to thrive in conference play. They are unbeaten in their last 19 America East games. Nickerson Field also has become a safe haven for the team this season. BU is 6-0-0 at home, and has not lost at Nickerson Field in their last 11 contests.
Boston University dominated the game offensively, outshooting the Catamounts 23-2, 10-1 on shots on goal. The Catamount offense, led by Carson Laderoute and Gabby Bonfigli, who each have three goals, were practically invisible as they could not solve the Terriers’ defense.
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