Women’s soccer aims for first win against Northeastern

The Boston University women’s soccer team, fresh off a weekend trip to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, will meet crosstown rival Northeastern University this Thursday and look to get its first win of the year.

So far, the Terriers (0-3-1) have only been able to score one goal in their first four games. Most recently, BU was shut out in its last two contests against Northwestern University and Marquette University and lost 2-0 and 3-0, respectively. BU coach Nancy Feldman said she knows what her squad needs to work on in order to get back on the winning track.

“We have to do a better job of keeping possession of the ball,” Feldman said. “I’d say the other [thing] is to continue getting better organized defensively. Everyone’s working real hard and we just have to become a more coordinated unit.”

The Terriers will have to be organized defensively in order to stay with the Huskies (3-1), who are currently averaging three goals per game. Northeastern forwards Kayla Cappuzzo and Carly Wilhelm, midfielder Hannah Lopiccolo and defender Mackenzie Dowd all lead their team with two goals each this season. Cappuzzo and Wilhelm are also tied for the team lead in points with six.

The Terriers have been looking for their defensive anchor since Kai Miller graduated last season, and the back line will need to play well individually in order to slow down Northeastern’s offense.

“Play good individual defense, and you’ll play good team defense,” Feldman said. “I know it’s simple on paper, but it has to be executed, and they’re very good players. That’s always a key to shutting down good talent, is that individually in your own moment, [when] you’re individually matched up, you do a good job. This is an area that we’re improving in each day.”

Look for senior defender McKenzie Hollenbaugh to help solidify the defensive effort behind senior goalkeeper Alyssa Parisi. The Terriers will continue to search for their identity on the defensive side of the ball, but as Feldman noted, it will need to be more of a collective effort than last season.

“That’s how you play great soccer defense. It’s not a one-on-one battle all over the field,” Feldman said. “There are certainly moments like that that present themselves over the course of the game, but it’s really our unit defending well. I’ve said it before to the kids that the best defense is having the ball. So the better we do with the ball and putting pressure on Northeastern by having them defend us, the better our defense is going to be.”

The last time these two teams went head-to-head was in the first round of last season’s NCAA Tournament, when the Huskies outplayed the Terriers en route to a 2-0 victory. It would seem that BU has a little extra motivation for its upcoming game, however Feldman said she believes that every game should be treated as important, rather than focusing more on some games and less on others.

“I’m sure it’s on the kids’ minds,” Feldman said regarding the NCAA Tournament game, “but I think right now we really must try to stay in the moment. There’s certainly rivalries throughout the season with local teams, and we’ve developed rivalries in our Patriot League contests. There’s some emotion in those games, but you could say there’s emotion in all games.”

With that being said, these two teams are familiar with each other, with the Terriers holding an 11-4-1 record all-time against the Huskies. BU has only fallen to Northeastern on their turf once in series history, and Feldman’s squad will look to keep that number right where it is following Thursday’s matchup.

“I guess what we try to do is bring emotion to every game and look at each game as a tournament game. The next game is the most important game, and I really think [that’s] the state of mind you want to have instead of ‘this game means more than that game.’ It’s not a really good way to be successful in the long term.”