Women’s soccer enters conference play in tilt with Navy

Looking back to the 2013 season, the Boston University women’s soccer team thrived at Nickerson Field, compiling a 9-0-2 record while only allowing one goal in those 11 matches en route to an extremely successful first foray in the Patriot League.

That same home field advantage has been surprisingly absent for the Terriers (4-3-1) in 2014, as BU has posted a mediocre 2-2-1 mark on its home turf this season — including a three-game winless streak that dates back to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of the University of San Francisco on Sept. 7.

The Terriers will look to snap their three-game downturn when they begin the conference portion of their schedule with a match against the United States Naval Academy Saturday at Nickerson Field.

BU faced off against the Midshipmen (3-2-3) twice in the 2013 season, with the Terriers suffering a 1-0 loss on Sept. 20, 2013 — their only loss to a conference opponent in that season — before ultimately besting Navy in the Patriot League title game, 1-0, on Nov. 10, 2013.

After opening their season with two losses to the University of Maryland-Baltimore County and the University of Connecticut, the Midshipmen have not lost a match, registering a 3-0-3 record over their last six games, the most recent being a 1-1 draw versus Ball State University.

Navy is led by senior Morgan Dankanich, who is tied for second in the Patriot League in goals with four while also placing third in the conference in points per game (1.29). With Dankanich pacing the Midshipmen offense, Navy should prove to be a serious threat to the slumping Terriers.

“As we would hope, they’re incredibly strong and fit. They are the Naval Academy, so they’re disciplined. They’re hard working,” said BU coach Nancy Feldman. “When we played them twice last year, it was a physical battle. I expect them to be organized and competitive. It’s going to be a competitive game.”

The Terriers, coming off a disappointing loss to Northeastern University on Sept. 14, have struggled with finding the back of the net as of late, as the team has not scored since senior forward Taylor Krebs put BU ahead in the 10th minute of its game against the University of Akron on Sept. 12 — a span of almost 190 minutes.

Despite their lackluster results on offense, Feldman said she remains confident that her team can capitalize against the Navy backfield.

“We’ll get our chances this week to do a better job of imprinting our style of attack,” Feldman said. “It’s not necessarily what’s happening in front of the goal. It’s what’s happening in the other three-fourths of the field. We’ve worked hard at that this week, and we just have to be able to keep our composure and our confidence and be able to possess the ball in the final third a little bit better than we’ve been doing.”

While their offense has been struggling, the Terriers have found a reliable option in net with sophomore goalkeeper Bridget Conway. In three games this season, Conway has registered a 0.40 goals-against average with a .857 save percentage.

For Feldman, the biggest factor in a BU victory Saturday lies in the team dictating its own style of play against the Midshipmen.

“We just have to be able to keep grabbing [the tempo] back and continuing to play with our style…That’s going to be a key,” Feldman said. “Because otherwise, you open it up, and you’re defending, and we want that to be more on them than on us.

“I know we’ll come to compete. I know we’ll come to fight and battle, and winning the individual battle is vital, and that’s kind of a given…It’s about us trying to imprint our style.”