Just about now would be a good time to take notice of the Boston University women’s soccer team.
After easily taking down the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, 2-0, Sunday afternoon, the Terriers extended their unbeaten streak to five games.
BU (7-5-2, 4-0 America East) used two early goals to gain quick control of the game, blocking the Retrievers (1-11-2, 0-5) from establishing any sort of offensive momentum.
Marisha Schumacher-Hodge put the Terriers on the board in the fourth minute. Sophomore forward Farrell McClernon sent a ball into the box, where it deflected off a Retriever defender before finding the left foot of Schumacher-Hodge, who drilled it past goalkeeper Christine Bacinski.
“I think as the season progresses, we’re connecting much better, especially now,” McClernon said. “We’re getting into a rhythm and getting our formation down, and figuring out what runs different people are making.”
It wasn’t long before BU was on the scoreboard again. At 15:38, McClernon sent in a sharp lead pass for freshman Stephanie Croghan — getting her first start of then season — who then stripped the ball from Bacinski and fought off a UMBC defender to finish the goal. The tally marked Croghan’s second in as many games, with McClernon getting the assist on both goals.
“We’re working dynamically in practice and it’s paying off for the games. Farrell does the dirty work and I guess I have the easy finish,” Croghan said.
Casey Brown almost tallied a score in her fourth straight game when she found an open shot in the 68th minute. After putting on a move to sneak past a defender, Brown fired off a hard shot toward the bottom right corner of the goal, but UMBC knocked the ball out of bounds for a BU corner kick.
After four games of conference play, the Terriers have finally started hitting their stride in all facets of the game. The defense has clamped down on opponents all season, frustrating attackers and eliminating scoring chances. Through the first half of the schedule, the offense struggled constantly, but with some newfound scoring threats, the team has scored in each of its last five games, tallying 11 goals in those contests.
The offense as a whole is reaching a new level with every contest and is beginning to show why the Terriers were the preseason coaches’ favorite to win the conference. Sunday’s game was much more about possessing the ball and controlling the action than creating scoring opportunities, but BU still outshot the Retrievers 13-4 and earned nine corner kicks to UMBC’s three.
BU’s offense is normally oriented toward a team attack, but Sunday the offense tended to filter mostly through McClernon and her intelligent passing. McClernon has been a scorer at every level and she is now beginning to settle into her role as a catalyst for the team’s offensive spurts.
Senior goalkeeper Christina Reuter made two saves and recorded the shutout. Next up is the University of Hartford, another tough conference game on Nickerson Field on Thursday.
“Three points is three points and we’ll take it and move on,” Feldman said. “That’s the whole point right now. Take the wins and move on.”
