The Boston University women’s soccer team will be back in action Wednesday night against the Harvard University Crimson at 7 p.m. tonight on Nickerson Field. The Terriers are looking to rebound after dropping two games last weekend, their first losses of the 2011 season.
BU has not played Harvard since Sept. 16 of last year, when they beat the Crimson 3-0 at Ohiri Field in Cambridge. BU has won three of the last four times it has played the Crimson, but the all-time series is 6-3-3 in favor of Harvard.
BU’s six-game season-opening unbeaten streak came to an end on Friday night when the Terriers (5-2-1) fell 3-0 at University of Connecticut. The lone loss turned into a streak on Sunday when the Terriers were defeated again, this time at University of Massachusetts.
In what is likely a pure coincidence, the Crimson also played both the Huskies and the Minutewomen this past weekend, staying at home for UMass on Friday but traveling to Storrs, Conn. for UConn on Sunday. Harvard won both games and owns a record of 3-1-0. The team is halfway through its out-of-conference schedule.
Now the Crimson will make the short trip into Boston to see if it can extend its three-game winning streak – Harvard also beat Elon University 2-1 – while the Terriers will attempt to end their two-game losing streak.
Coming off the losses, BU coach Nancy Feldman says there are improvements the Terriers need to make to regain the momentum of their first six games of the season.
“We’ve got to be a better unit and we’re going to know our level of energy and our level of effort,” Feldman said. “It’s more of a mental phase.”
Despite outshooting UMass by a large margin of 22-3, the Terriers were shut out. Only 34 percent of BU’s shots hit the frame, an area Feldman acknowledged the team needs to work on. A few of those shots, she said, “could have been goals.”
Feldman said the Terriers had “lost our core principles” on Friday and Sunday, and returning to those core principles will lead to more success.
Sill, she said, “there’s no panic.”
The Terriers still have a weekend of out-of-conference games and their entire conference schedule in front of them. The remaining games offer a host of opportunities to secure a conference tournament and hopeful NCAA bid.
“It was September 6th last week when we beat Washington and Portland and it’s September 12th this week,” Feldman said. “There’s plenty of time.”
After the two losses, the team fell from the No. 23 spot in last week’s NSCAA national rankings to receiving just one vote this week. In the NSCAA Northeast regional rankings, the Terriers were ranked seventh, a fall of four places from last week.
National rankings or not, the Terriers are still leading their opponents in almost all statistical categories, including goals per game, shots per game and assists.
Senior forward Jessica Luscinski, who leads the team in points, shots and shots-on-goal and is tied for the lead in goals scored with freshman Taylor Krebs, has not played in the past three games and her status is unclear for tonight.
With or without Luscinski, Feldman is excited to return to Nickerson Field, and with good reason. The Terriers have not lost at home since Sept. 4th, 2010, when they were defeated 1-0 by Boston College. They also have not played at home since Aug. 27, when BU beat Loyola University (Maryland) 3-0, Feldman’s 300th career victory.
Referencing back to those core principles, Feldman said the Terriers will have to work on a specific balance if they wish to get their sixth win: “That balance between a calmness and a composure and an aggressiveness too.”
“What we’re going to do is we’re going to be in the right place,” Feldman said. “We’re going to be on Nickerson Field. We need to establish our tempo and our rhythm.”
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