In sports, one of the hardest challenges is playing game in and game out at a consistently high level of play.
During the 2009 season, consistency hasn’t been a problem at all for the Boston University women’s soccer team.
After Saturday’s win at Nickerson Field against Binghamton in the America East conference championship, BU (14-5-2) claimed its third straight conference title and will make its fifth straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
With the exception of a six-game winless streak, where they faced their toughest opposition of the season all the on the road, the Terriers have been the model of reliability. It all started with their dominating performance against Rhode Island in the Terrier Tailgate, and continued through the America East conference play.’
‘I think that [playing at a consistently high level] is definitely a big challenge,’ senior Farrell McClernon said.’ ‘Other years, it’s presented a lot larger of a challenge because I think that our focus is so strong this year and we know we have to come out every day with the same mentality because you mess up once in this league and that can cost you.’
Much of the team’s consistency this season is due to the team’s senior leadership, maturity and experience, she said.
‘Out of all the teams I’ve played on this is by far the most experienced.’ McClernon said.’ ‘We have a really old team, in a good way, and we’ve been through a lot together. I think the younger players have just really picked up on the mentality. There is a ton of heart.’
‘Everyone, especially since we’re so experienced, has really committed to what we are all about and that’s playing for each other and playing our style,’ senior co-captain Mara Osher said.’ ‘Everyone puts 100 percent so it’s really easy to go out there and do our thing.’
At the beginning of the season the Terriers were picked unanimously by American East coaches to win the conference. Being the favorite can be just as difficult as being the underdog. When you are the top dog of your conference, all the other teams are gunning for you and as a result bring the best to the field for that game, BU coach Nancy Feldman said.
‘When you’re the underdog, you come in with a game plan to try to take the higher rated team out of their game, get them away from what you want to do and just disrupt them,’ Feldman said.’
Although the Terriers have been dominant in conference play, their out-of-conference r’eacute;sum’eacute; was probably not impressive enough to garner them an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament.’ As a result, the championship game was a win or go home scenario for the Terriers.
‘Our league isn’t rated very highly, we probably wouldn’t have gotten into the NCAA Tournament without winning this so there is not a lot of margin for error,’ Feldman said.’ ‘Consistency is one of the things I’m most proud of and that goes back again to the kids coming every day, being focused both for practices and games to make themselves the best they can be and not relaxing.’
The key to victory for the Terriers this season has been playing with an aggressive offense and a shut-down defense.’
‘This whole season, we’ve just been about playing our game and staying consistent and doing the things we’re good at,’ McClernon said. ‘I think at halftime we kind of adjusted to what we saw after the first half and we came out really strong in the second half and we were playing like a team.’
‘They try to rise and be the best they can be and that separates us,’ Feldman said.’ ‘We need to do that because if we don’t separate ourselves sort of every day then I don’t think you’re as consistent in being a champion and I think they’ve done that. I think they’re committed to it. I think that is our culture, and my job is to just try to keep it going.’
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.
