The Boston University women’s soccer team is looking to defend its America East regular season and tournament crowns for the second-straight year. Thanks to a strong offensive showing from senior Taleen Dimirdjian and sophomore Jessica Luscinski, BU made a bold statement to the rest of the conference by defeating Binghamton University 3-0 on Sunday afternoon at Nickerson Field.
The Terriers outshot the Bearcats 16-4 and had an 8-1 advantage in this department at the end of the first half.’
BU drew an astounding 10 corner kicks in the game, compared to Binghamton’s two.’ The Terriers scored twice on its first two corners of the game, due in large part to the corner kick taking of Luscinski and the finishing touches of Dimirdjian (fifth minute) and junior Corie Halasz (16th minute).
‘You better get your chances off of [corner kicks],’ BU coach Nancy Feldman said. ‘They are free crosses. We have dominant players in the air, and we’re attacking the ball really well in the box. I think our corners can be very effective for us, and it showed today.’
Feldman said drawing corner kicks isn’t as easy as it seems, attributing their success to the hustle of her players.
‘I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the work that people now are doing to get corners, both to defend and to create something,’ she said. ‘We’re playing more penetrating passes, and we’re working to get on the other end of them. We’re being aggressive to take players on, and that’s what draws corners.’
While the defense was impeccable, it was the play of Luscinski and Dimirdjian that stole the show on a rainy Sunday afternoon. Luscinski recorded her second and third assists of the season off of her corners, while Dimirdjian tallied two goals to propel the Terriers to 5-4-2, 1-0 in America East play.
‘She’s driving really good balls into the box, even some that went past everybody that we just missed,’ Feldman said on the quality of Luscinski’s crosses.
Luscinski now leads the team in assists (3) and points (7). She is tied with senior Farrell McClernon and Dimirdjian for the lead in goals with two.
Dimirdjian was a recipient of the strong set pieces as she opened the scoring in the fifth minute of the game off a corner kick and then added an insurance goal later in the second half.’
‘My favorite kind of goal in practice is [when] Jess Luscinski always crosses them in,’ Dimirdjian said. ‘I just feel like I read her crosses really well so she crossed it in and I just knew it was coming. It was kind of an awkward angle so I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do a diving header but I ended up just like touching it in so that goal wasn’t as exciting.’
What made these two goals special was that they were her first and second goals of her collegiate career. Last Thursday against Dartmouth College, she headed a ball into the back of the net only to have her goal taken away due to a foul.’
‘It’s awesome,’ Dimirdjian said about her first two goals as a Terrier. ‘I’ve been working really hard and I just wanted to do what’s best for the team, and we’re really excited to get this win today with the conference starting up, so I’m really excited.’
While it was a great individual statistical game for Dimirdjian and Luscinski, their main concern is with the team’s success and the defense of their conference title.’
‘It was awesome to just start out with a win and show America East that we’re here to play,’ Luscinski said. ‘We’re the team to beat.’
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