After going undefeated in the conference regular season and winning its fifth-straight regular season title, the No. 14 Boston University women’s soccer team will play its first game in a week on Sunday, an America East Conference semi-final contest scheduled for 1 p.m. at Nickerson Field.The Terriers will not find out whom they are playing against until Binghamton University and the University of New Hampshire face off on Thursday.
The Bearcats will travel to Durham, N.H., to play UNH in an America East quarterfinal contest with the winner advancing to face BU.The Terriers last faced both potential opponents in early October.
First, BU traveled up to Durham on Oct. 6 to play the Wildcats. After playing aggressively, yet failing to score against UNH in the first half, senior tri-captain Tiya Gallegos found the back of the net in the 61st minute off a pass from fellow senior midfielder Jessica Luscinski.The Terriers posted 21 shots, only five of which were on goal – an unusually low ratio for the team, which has a.471 shots-on-goal percentage for the season.
Senior goalkeeper Alice Binns stopped the six Wildcat shots against the Terriers.Three days later, the then-No. 21 Terriers hosted Binghamton at Nickerson Field. The Terriers posted three goals in the first half to the Bearcats’ one and Luscinski found the net one more time for BU in the second half, after assisting twice in the first.
Binghamton had not given up more than one goal before that game.
Sophomore goalkeeper Kelly King played in goal for the Terriers, saving six shots.
The Bearcats’ lone goal of the game, scored by Candice Rowland, still stands out for BU coach Nancy Feldman.
“We haven’t had [a lot of] goals scored upon defensively [in conference play],” Feldman said. Because they’re playing a team to be named later, Feldman has focused on improving the team as a whole in practices so far this week. On Monday, the Terriers rested before focusing on fitness Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday, Feldman said she plans to “continue to refine our attack, particularly our passing and moving.”“Possession is a big part of what we do in prep for a game,” Feldman said.With that focus on possession comes an increased offensive output.
The Terriers have scored 47 goals the entire season, the most in the America East by 16. When playing teams within their conference, they still lead the rest of the America East by a wide margin, scoring 27 times, 11 more times than the runner-up, the University of Hartford.One of the keys to the high offensive production through the regular season has been its diversity, with 14 different players scoring for BU. Eight of those 14 have scored multiple times.
Feldman said that the diversity is an asset.“That’s the beauty of our team this year,” Feldman said. “We’re getting great performance from each of our lines . . . We’re not a one-man show offensively . . . We’re getting goal production from a lot of different places.”That goal production has led to awards, achievements and accolades for the Terriers.
The Terriers earned four out of the six awards that the America East Conference gave out on Wednesday. Senior tri-captains Lina Cords and Brittany Heist were named Defender of the Year and Midfielder of the Year, respectively. Luscinski was named the Striker of the Year for the second-straight season and freshman forward Taylor Krebs was also recognized as the Rookie of the Year.
For Feldman, all of the accomplishments are reflective of one of her core tenants: consistency. When asked what the fifth-straight regular season title meant to her and the program, the coach did not hesitate before bringing the topic up.“The consistency with which we’ve had success,” she said. “I’m really proud of that.”
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