Looking to ride the wave of momentum from a big opening win against Stony Brook University last Sunday, the Boston University women’s soccer team will travel to the University of Maine tomorrow for its second game of America East action this season.
It’s a clash of what BU coach Nancy Feldman called “the best two teams in the America East” and should be very physical, as the Terriers (5-4-2 overall, 1-0-0 America East) look to move their league record to 2-0, while the Black Bears (5-4-0, 0-0-1) will try to hit the .500 mark in the conference.
Maine represents one of the most potent offensive attacks the Terriers will face in conference play. The Black Bears have scored 16 times during the season thus far, averaging a total of 1.8 goals per game.
Maine’s strong offensive attack will face the stingy BU defense, which notched its fourth shutout of the season when it blanked the Seawolves on Sunday. The BU defense has allowed only nine goals in 11 games, good for a 0.81 goals-against average.
Sophomore Christina Reuter and junior Steph Dreyer have a large stake in that average, and because the duo alternates starts, it’ll be Reuter’s turn against the Black Bears. In five games, Reuter is 3-1, allowing three goals while saving six shots and recording a 0.57 GAA.
On the other side of the ball, the Terriers will be most likely mired in frustration with Maine goalie Jasmine Phillips, who’s on a rotation of her own with Maine keeper, Tanya Adorno. Phillips has been the impenetrable force this season, allowing zero goals in three games.
BU will have to rely on key performances from their offense to try to finally break through Phillips. While the Terriers have only scored 10 goals in their 11 games this season, they showed signs of offensive life on Sunday, blasting 28 shots against Stony Brook.
Look for the usual suspects to be major offensive contributors for the Terriers: Senior forwards Meghann Cook and Melissa Shulman, along with senior back Susan Marschall. Cook leads the team in assists and goals, while Shulman is the only BU player with an America East score.
Marschall will probably look to take some crosses from Cook over the middle on corner kicks, as she tends to throw her head into anything Cook sends her way.
In terms of Maine power players, look no further than last week’s America East co-Player of the Week, senior forward Heather Hathorn. When the Black Bears look for a score, they look to Hathorn. Along with leading the Black Bears in goals (4), the senior forward is first in the conference in shots per game, averaging the same number.
Statistics aside, this game will be a test of the Terrier character and will be, as Feldman referred to it on Sunday, a “war.” If BU defeats Maine, the Terriers will not only move to 2-0, but will have beaten their toughest conference competition to date, erasing every inch of the slow start that marked their early season.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
