Heist performs well again on teammates’ Senior Day

On the Boston University women’s soccer team, there is one player who has made it a habit of scoring on Senior Day the last two years.

Listed at 5-foot-3 and regarded as one of the Terriers’ central playmakers on the pitch, she wasn’t recognized in Sunday’s pregame ceremony at Nickerson Field. She didn’t receive flowers from the BU coaching staff for her on-field accomplishments for the last four seasons. She wasn’t introduced into the starting lineup accompanied by any family members.

Heck, midfielder Brittany Heist isn’t even a senior. She’s only in her third season donning the scarlet-and-white for the Terriers, but the junior from Lancaster, N.Y., sure has a knack for raising her game on the big stage.

“It doesn’t surprise me that Brittany is someone who plays her heart out on a meaningful day for her teammates, particularly for the seniors on the team,” said BU coach Nancy Feldman. “She wants them to have a kind of day that she would envision that would be a memorable day. She’s going to do whatever she can to make that happen.

“That inspires her because she’s a very generous teammate who plays with a lot of heart for her team. That’s Heisty, and that’s what Heisty’s been since the day she’s come on campus.”

Three seniors &- Lily Albin, Corie Halasz and Shauna Kelleher &- and graduate student Lisa Kevorkian were honored prior to BU’s regular season finale against the University of Maine, but it was Heist who made quite the impact on a day slated for the squad’s seniors.

Early on in the contest, junior forward Jessica Luscinski separated herself from a Maine defender along the left sideline and sent an arching ball into the 18-yard box. Luscinski’s cross found an unmarked Heist, who headed the ball past unsuspecting Black Bears keeper Meagan Price-Leibenzeder in the 24th minute.

“I saw [Luscinski] getting wide, so as soon as I saw the ball played wide, my initial reaction is to get into the box and that was a big thing that [Feldman] wanted the midfielders to do today,” Heist said. “I kind of was right there and it came right to my head, so it was easy to put in.”

“From day one of preseason, we felt one of the ways we could improve on was getting more players into the box on crossed balls,” Feldman said. “Heisty’s one of the best players on our team in the air, if not the best player in the air as far as her accuracy with her heading. She has amazing lift. Her timing is outstanding, and she’s brave. What a highlight goal she scored with her head.”

Sporting a hairdo similar to that of roommate and tri-captain Halasz, Heist insisted that her new “do didn’t play a role in the play that resulted in her second goal of the season.

“No, no,” Heist said. “This is just kind of a little last night boredom with me and Corie in our apartment, so absolutely not.”

Heist’s goal would be the game-winner in the Terriers’ 2-0 victory over the Black Bears. Junior forward Tiya Gallegos added an insurance tally 15 minutes into the second half that all but assured BU’s 11th straight win.

Lightning might not strike the same place twice, as the saying goes, but with her goal on Sunday, Heist has now recorded goals on consecutive Senior Days. On Oct. 25, 2009, Heist was one of five different Terriers who notched a goal on Senior Day in a 5-0 demolition of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County. Then a sophomore, Heist also assisted on 2009 alumna Farrell McClernon’s goal in the 19th minute in that same matchup against UMBC.

When 2011 rolls around, Heist will finally be a senior and be honored in the pregame ceremony, presented with flowers by the coaching staff and allowed to have her family by her side as she is named one of BU’s starting 11.

But time will tell whether or not she will make it three-for-three and notch a goal on her very own Senior Day next season.

“Maybe,” Heist said. “Hopefully. I mean, we’ll see, as long as we win. That’s all I’m hoping for.”