The Boston University women’s soccer team stumbled in its season opener on Sunday, falling to rival Boston College, 3-1, in Newton.
The No. 22 ranked Eagles (2-0-0, 0-0-0 Big East) set the tone early, jumping out to a 3-0 lead less than 43 minutes into the contest. Sophomore forward Katie McGregor started the scoring at 8:11 when she took a throw-in, maneuvered around the BU (0-1-0, 0-0-0 America East) defense and beat Terrier goalie Jessica Clinton to the right side.
Senior forward Beth Totman tallied the next goal for the Eagles, scoring at 16:04 when her shot from outside the 18-yard box deflected off Clinton and into the net. Senior Sarah Rahko was credited with an assist.
BC made it 3-0 at 42:04 when freshman midfielder Jenny Maurer put a shot past Clinton after getting the ball from sophomore Kelly Lavery.
The lone BU score came midway through the second half when red-shirt sophomore Melissa Shulman notched her first goal in nearly a year. Junior Lauren Ciccone assisted on the play.
BU head coach Nancy Feldman said the team was not as sharp as it needed to be against the high-caliber Eagles.
‘They are a very good team and we needed to play our A-game and we didn’t,’ Feldman said. ‘I’m not satisfied with our speed of play, and I’m not satisfied with our aggressiveness and mentality. We didn’t have the ball enough and we didn’t really generate any attack in the first half.’
Feldman said the team’s mentality changed at halftime when the Terriers found themselves in a 3-0 hole. Besides reworking the lineup to play a four-attacker, four-midfielder and two-defender style, Feldman said she told the team not to worry about the deficit but to try to win the second half.
Though she was pleased with the team’s second-half performance, Feldman said the focus of this week’s practice will be on playing with a quicker and hungrier style.
‘There is no game on our schedule that we can’t go in with the expectation that the outcome will be a success,’ Feldman said. ‘BC presented a challenge because they are very athletic and they move to spaces very fast. We weren’t playing quick enough to get out of pressure and get the ball forward.’
Though it was the first game of the year for BU, BC had already played a tune-up against Wagner College earlier in the week. In a 10-0 bludgeoning of the Seahawks, 11 different Eagles recorded points.
BC’s two wins to start the season catapulted the team to No. 22 in the most recent National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll.
Next on the schedule for the Terriers is a trip to Colorado Springs, Colo. for dates with Colorado College on Friday and Loyola-Marymount University on Sunday in the Colorado College Tournament. The following weekend, BU heads on the road again for matchups against George Mason University and the University of Delaware in Fairfax, Va., in the George Mason Tournament.
The first women’s soccer home game falls on Wednesday, Sept. 17 against the University of Massachusetts. A Saturday night home affair with Fairfield University follows three days later.
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