After the Boston University women’s soccer team’s three-game scoreless stretch, it seems the Terriers’ offense is finally starting to come around.
At the Sept. 20 game at North Carolina State, the Terriers erupted for three goals in the second half against the Wolfpack, finally breaking out of their scoring slump. Junior Megan McGoldrick scored her first goal of the season on a penalty kick during the 51st minute, giving BU a 1–0 lead.
After NC State tied the game again, sophomore forward Ana Cuffia scored the winning goal for the Terriers in the 67th minute of play. Junior forward Madison Clemens scored once more for the Terriers with less than two minutes to play in the game, sealing the deal for the Terriers. The Terriers beat North Carolina with a 3–1 victory.
BU coach Nancy Feldman believed the scoring outburst at NC State created a lot of momentum for the team.
“We’ve definitely had some bumps,” Feldman said. “We’ve been competing so well but weren’t getting the wins. I think the NC State win and performance … was a confidence builder and a good one coming into conference play. I think it helped right the ship psychologically.”
Feeding off the momentum from Thursday’s game, the Terriers entered America East play with a home game against the University at Albany Sunday afternoon and continued their offensive hot streak.
After an early goal by Albany, senior forward Brea Hewitt tied the game up with a beautiful unassisted goal at 29:59. With the game tied entering the second half, sophomore Dara DeMatteo scored the first goal of her collegiate career at 54:40, giving the Terriers a 2–1 lead. At 73:46, sophomore Cuffia scored in her second straight game, giving the Terriers a 3–1 lead. Junior midfielder Emma Clark assisted on Cuffia’s goal.
The Terriers held onto the lead and defeated the Albany, 3–1, improving to 14–0 all-time against the Albany Great Danes. The team also outshot Albany 18–1 during the game.
“We showed steadiness, we could’ve gotten frantic,” Feldman said. “It took us a while to get the goal back and I think it was good mentality, good psychology and good calmness to tie the game before going into halftime, and then take care of business in the second half.”
When asked what she thought was the main turn-around in the team’s scoring over the last two games, Feldman was quick to acknowledge the stiff competition that the team had faced prior to the games against NC State and Albany.
“Stanford is one of the top teams in the country, Santa Clara is in the top 30, UMass defends very well and has very good goalkeeping … I don’t think necessarily it’s about us, sometimes it’s about the opponent,” she said.
Despite scoring six goals over the last two games, Feldman acknowledged that the team still has things to work on.
“I think our urgency to penetrate could still be better, our urgency in the box could still be better,” Feldman said. “Our inconsistency is really our youth, and that’s not an excuse, it’s a reality, so we have to be more consistent, we have to be more precise, we have to be better in critical moments … and that’s why we practice.”
BU will look to continue its scoring streak against the University of Maine on Thursday.
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