Kaboom.
The Boston University women’s soccer team’s offense, the ticking time bomb that never detonates, finally blew up against America East opponent the University of Vermont in BU’s 3-0 victory.
In a season where the Terriers (6-4-3 overall, 2-0-1 America East) had scored more than once in only three of 12 games, the offense was a veritable goal-scoring machine on Sunday. BU took advantage of opportunities against a talented Catamount squad (5-6-0, 2-1-0), a team that was previously undefeated in America East play, to grab first place in the conference.
“We really played well for all 90 minutes today,” said BU coach Nancy Feldman. “We were finishing early and we did it against a good defending team. They’re also a team from our conference, which makes the win particularly significant.”
The finishers on this day were on complete opposite ends of the Terriers’ offensive spectrum. While the last two goals were scored by BU’s most prolific scorer, Meghann Cook, the first came from an unlikely source: junior forward Lauren Erwin.
About halfway through the first half, Erwin received a pass inside the 18-yard box from senior midfielder Brooke Bingham. After giving the ball a touch to get away from her defender, Erwin blasted a laser off the far post and into the net, giving BU a 1-0 lead.
It was an especially important goal for Erwin, who had not accumulated a point since the second game of the season against UMass-Amherst.
While Erwin was the initial contributor, it was Cook who delivered the two late goals to put the game out of reach.
Her first goal of the afternoon came off a penalty kick, which Erwin drew from a Vermont defender after she slipped past goalie Lauren Kissock. “My goal off the PK was basically Lauren’s,” Cook said.
Cook lined up in front of the ball and drilled a goal into the left corner, extending the BU lead to 2-0.
“The first thing that went though my head was, ‘Don’t mess up,'” Cook said. “Then I just wanted to place it. You’re just trying to think where the goalie’s going to go in that situation. I always go to the left, so I just went with my routine.”
But Cook wasn’t done after the penalty kick. Shortly after the forward notched her first goal, she got another opportunity to further BU’s lead.
With four minutes to go in the first half, the day’s two heroines combined for Sunday’s final goal. From the right side of the field, Erwin feathered a pass to an open Cook. After receiving the offering, the senior forward avoided her defender and scooted a shot into the right side of the goal past a diving Kissock.
“It was awesome to get ahead early,” Erwin said. “We’ve dominated [this season], but it’s awesome to break though like that – especially during conference play.”
The domination Erwin referred to happened both offensively and defensively. While the Terriers were able to put together their strongest offensive effort of the season, they were also completely in control of a potent Vermont offense.
Junior goaltender Steph Dreyer posted her second straight shutout, accumulating four saves.
The more telling stat than the shutout, however, is that the Terriers pressured the Catamounts all day with a 22 shots, while they faced only five from the Vermont squad.
Part of the reason BU didn’t face many difficult situations on defense – even with a three-goal lead – was because the Catamounts didn’t have much opportunity to get the ball out of their defensive zone.
“The thing about Vermont is that they don’t need a lot of chances to get right back in the game,” Feldman said. “If we relax, they can do a lot with it. We were much better being offensively aggressive today. We put the pedal to the metal and took control of the match.”
It wasn’t just the starters who were in control of the game, either. It seemed that no matter who the Terriers put in on Sunday, the Catamounts were unable to figure out the BU attack.
“The subs really picked us up today,” Feldman said. “People who came off the bench really raised it up, which was a great sign. We had excellent play from everyone – people like [freshman] Liz Speck, [senior] Ashley Chassar and [freshman] Mara Osher had great games for us.”
Every Terrier finally clicked, all parts acting in unison. With that, the suspense ended. The time bomb finally exploded.
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