With a strong start to the season in tow, the Boston University women’s soccer team will head into America East conference play this weekend with a matchup against the University at Albany.
“I feel pretty good about where we’re at,” said BU coach Nancy Feldman. “Regardless of our record, or Albany’s record, or Vermont’s record or anybody’s record we’re all 0-0-0 and shooting for the same thing and that’s to position ourselves for the conference tournament.”
The Terriers (7-2-1) come into conference play after a redeeming week that saw them defeat Ivy League competitors Harvard University and Yale University.
Last Wednesday against Harvard, BU shut down the Crimson’s offense in a 3-0 victory. Sophomore midfielder Kylie Strom had a pair of goals in the game for her first collegiate multi-goal effort.
Kylie has been an important fixture this year for us and has been a really consistent performer in training and in games,” Feldman said. “She’s been relied on quite a bit to be a steady force in the midfield and she’s not only been attacking well for us, but she’s been really, really important for defending.”
Freshman defender Kai Miller netted the other tally of the game for her first career goal.
“Kai Miller’s had a good start to the year,” Feldman said. “She’s contributed here and there even though there hasn’t been a lot of minutes. What she’s given us has been very, very good and very, very steady for a first year to come in as a defender and compete as she competes.”
Strom and Miller received accolades from AE for their efforts in the game against Harvard. Strom, who also had an assist on a game-winning goal during Sunday’s game against Yale, was named the Co-Player of the Week and Miller earned the title of Rookie of the Week.
Although Feldman was proud of her players, she pointed out that they wouldn’t have had the recognition if it weren’t for the team’s overall performance.
“When a team does well then individual players get accolades,” Feldman said. “That doesn’t take anything away from the individual performance of either of those players this past week… The team had two very important wins last week and started on Sunday to come together as a unit, probably as well as we had all season long both offensively and defensively and when that starts to happen then players can really shine.”
On Sunday, the Terriers defeated Yale after two second half goals broke up a 1-1 tie. Senior midfielder Brittany Heist netted two of the team’s three goals in the victory.
Albany (2-4) comes in to conference play having had a somewhat tumultuous start to the season. Offensively, Albany has a shot percentage of .098 and consequently has been outscored by opponents 13-5. On average, Albany’s opponents have a made shot percentage approximately 18.6 percent.
Most recently, the Great Danes faced off against Manhattan College Wednesday afternoon. Albany suffered a 3-1 loss to the Jaspers and the team’s lone goal was scored by junior forward Chelsea DeVerna, her second of the season.
The Great Danes are led offensively by sophomore forward Aubrey VanGorde who leads the team with three goals and six points so far this season.
In goal, Albany has sophomore Dani Brit who has started every game for the team this season. In her five starts, Brit has a 3.04 average for goals in a game and a .500 save percentage. When Britt is not in goal, freshman Jacky Ubert controls the net with a .824 save perecentage.
According to Feldman, the most important thing for the Terriers going into conference play is to continue to improve their unity and consistency.
“I’ve started to see a bit more connectedness on the field [offensively and defensively] and that’s something that takes a lot of work,” Feldman said. “It takes a lot of commitment, it takes a lot of mental focus and that’s what I would expect is going to continue in a positive direction on Sunday.
“This has nothing to do with winning or losing. This is just performance-based stuff and that has to happen first before you’re going to get results.”
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