Women’s soccer opens season with win over Central Connecticut

Those who sat in the stands of Nickerson field Friday night more than likely would agree that the first event of the 2012-13 Boston University athletic campaign was a successful one. In its first return to action since the prolific 2011-12 season, the No. 23 BU women’s soccer team defeated Central Connecticut State University 3-0.

Essential roles left open by a strong graduating class seem to have been filled, at least temporarily. Junior Andrea Green was given the starting nod in net for the first time in her career at BU. Playing all 90 minutes, Green blanked the Blue Devils by stopping all three of their shots on goal.

Coming off the bench, senior midfielder Brea Hewitt provided an attack that drew the first blood of the season for BU. Hewitt, who had scored only one goal in her entire collegiate career prior to last night’s matchup, notched four points on a pair of goals against CCSU.

“She’s dynamic, she is really talented. She can cut and turn and change direction so well, and she’s fast,” said BU coach Nancy Feldman. “She’s really motivated. She wants to have a great year for the team and have a great year for herself, and tonight was a pretty darn good start for her.”

Although they were able to control possession quite easily for the majority of the game, the Terriers took nearly 30 minutes to put themselves on the scoreboard. After pushing the ball up the left side to sophomore forward Ana Cuffia for a good portion of the first half, BU finally capitalized on a corner kick. CCSU goalkeeper Nikola Deiter appeared to get a piece of the original strike from the corner, but Hewitt was there to clean up the mess and knocked in the first goal of the season.

“I think that I worked really hard this summer; our whole team did,” Hewitt said. “It’s a new and different team, and I think that a lot of different people will have a lot of different opportunities.”

In the rare case that the Blue Devils found themselves on a slight breakaway, the Terrier backs managed to play the angles well and prevented anything more than weak shots on net. BU relinquished a solitary corner kick opportunity to CCSU, and the attempt was skillfully batted away by Green.

Consistent ball movement by the BU midfield, led by junior Megan Mcgoldrick, allowed for more scoring opportunities to open up as the game progressed. Junior forward Madison Clemens accrued six shots (three on goal) during the game, a few of which shook the opposing woodwork. In all, the Terriers amassed 29 shots, 12 of which were on goal.

“One of the goals of the game was to control the tempo,” Feldman said. “. . . to get the ball down on the ground and to move it and to start to open up holes – wear them down – with some progression and some aggressive progression. . . . One of the halftime concentrations was that we needed to go forward more aggressively.”

Pushing the ball forward ultimately allowed the Terriers several more corner kick attempts. At the 71:45 mark, another rebound was sent into the CCSU net, this time by sophomore midfielder Jamie Turchi. Apparently, the two-goal padding wasn’t quite enough for everyone on the BU roster. Less than five minutes after Turchi’s goal, Hewitt took a pass from McGoldrick up the middle, deftly split a pair of defenders and snuck a slow roller past the goalkeeper and into the corner of the net.

Despite the victory, Feldman sees room for growth on her squad.

“I have confidence in them,” Feldman said. “I think we’re going to grow, and it’s a process. As we grow, we hope we can compete well enough to get wins.”