With one championship already down this year, the Boston University women’s soccer team takes to the field Monday to defend its America East title. The first-seeded Terriers will face off against the fourth-seeded University at Albany on Sunday afternoon in a battle for a spot in the conference finals.
BU (14-5-0, 8-0-0 AE) will look to continue its recent good form into the elimination stages. The Terriers gained their perfect conference record through the means of eight straight shutouts and a 25-0 goal differential.
The Great Danes (9-7-2, 4-2-2 AE) are no slouches either. Albany will look to ride the momentum of a 2-1 victory over the University of New Hampshire into an upset of the conference’s undisputed top team. In its lone regular season meeting, Albany played BU close &- losing a 2-0 battle that included a goal scored off a penalty kick.
“We played them recently, and they are a very attacking team that has a lot of quick, fast players,” said BU coach Nancy Feldman. “They are explosive and have a very good central midfielder in Rebecca Lee who is a handful and very physical.”
Albany features an attack that finished first in the conference in shots per game with 15.67. Uncharacteristically, the team managed only three shots on the Terrier game in their mid-October meeting.
“I thought they were effective at taking our game away and keeping it close,” Feldman said. “Even though they didn’t take many shots, I felt they were still in the game. It wasn’t until late in the second half that the game was put away. I would expect them to play the same way and take the few chances that they get.”
Albany’s main threat to score is forward Shayla Bergeron, who finished the year with nine goals for 18 points. Beyond the talented sophomore, no player on the squad scored more than two goals.
Conversely, the Terriers offer a balanced attack featuring many threats. Graduate student forward Lisa Kevorkian paced both the team and the league with 13 goals and 31 points. Second in America East in both those categories was junior forward Jessica Luscinski, who tallied nine goals and 24 points. Two other Terriers also finished in the top 10 in goals as junior forward Tiya Gallegos had seven and freshman Emma Clark ended with five scores.
At the other end, the game will feature the conference’s two stingiest defenses. Albany, led by goalkeeper Breanna Maggio, shut out its opponents nine times in 18 games. At the other side of the field, Boston University’s dynamic goalkeeping duo of freshman Kelly King and junior Alice Binns shared 13 shutouts on the season, including 11 in a row to end the season.
On paper, BU holds every advantage going into the game. A relentless offensive attack and shutdown backline should be able to get it to the next round. Surprises can happen, however, and no one knows that better than coach Feldman, who is refusing to look beyond the next game.
“Playing on Nickerson Field is certainly a big advantage for us,” Feldman said. “We’ve earned and we are happy to be home. The only game that I am looking at right now is the one on Sunday.”
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