Women’s soccer looking for its third consecutive Patriot League title

Despite winning the Patriot League championship for the second straight year, the Boston University women’s soccer team failed to accomplish more than that last season, falling in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to crosstown rival Northeastern University.

This year, BU coach Nancy Feldman said she has noticed a difference in her team that may help the Terriers (0-3-1) have an even more successful season.

“I think it’s a more mature group overall,” Feldman said. “That doesn’t mean that the team was immature last year, there’s just more of a level of experience. I think the number of players that have experience playing significant roles is greater this year and that just makes us a much more mature team.

“The group last year did a wonderful job,” she continued. “The seniors finished their career in a really strong way by winning the Patriot League championship. Certainly this group having gone through that experience is one of the reasons that they’re in the position that they’re in, being as mature and experienced as they are.”

That group is led by the seven seniors that will have ample time on the field this season. Among them is forward Jenna Fisher, who led the team in points last season with 17. She will represent her class with midfielders Clare Pleuler and Rachel Blauner, who should help generate offense for the Terriers.

Meanwhile, fellow seniors Ariana Aston, McKenzie Hollenbaugh and Lauren MacLellan will provide defensive experience on a team that lost back line anchor Kai Miller to graduation last year. Additionally, senior goalkeeper Alyssa Parisi will look to improve her 0.75 goals against average from last year and command the Terrier defense. Feldman said she is looking forward to seeing her experienced players get their chance to shine this season.

“Every year we lose good players, and the next group of players are ready to step in and take a larger role,” she said. “That’s something that we pride ourselves on in our program. We try to develop players and are committed to their development. They grow and improve because they really put their minds to it and work hard.

“Lauren MacLellan played a significant role last season as an outside back, and we expect her to do the same. In the midfield, Claire Pleuler is a senior and an experienced player. She had her shining moment at the end of last season in the Patriot League Tournament. Of course, Jenna Fisher is really the leader of the front line and is an example for all of our attackers and forward players.”

Feldman also went on to express how important it is for Parisi to return for her fifth year to the team after starting 20 games in the net for BU last season.

“She was our starter for most of the time last year and was a primary player for us,” Feldman said. “With that year under her belt of being the go-to goalkeeper, coming back and having that experience is better. You know what to expect, the game slows down a little bit and you’re more confident.”

Not to be outdone by the experienced core group, this year’s freshman class will also be vital to the team’s success. Defenders Chelsea Churchill and Pietra Sweeney, midfielder Julianna Chen and forward McKenna Doyle all played in the first three games for the Terriers, with Doyle notching an assist in the season opener. Feldman has nothing but praise for the freshman class, and said she believes they can provide talent for a team that lost five starters from last season to graduation.

“We’ve added some really good players to the mix,” Feldman said. “Our freshman class has been really solid. There are kids that are contributing right away, and that’s pretty amazing considering the number of returning players that we have, that some of the freshmen have proven to deserve some playing time this season. We’re going to need a few of them to play like veterans.”

In their first four games, however, the Terriers have failed to register a win, scoring only one goal. After losing a hard-fought match to rival Boston College in the season opener by a score of 2-1, BU was able to keep La Salle University from scoring in a 0-0 tie before losing to Northwestern University and Marquette University last weekend by a combined score of 5-0. After watching her players struggle in these first few games, Feldman said she knows what this team needs to work on in order to get back on the winning track.

“We need to score goals,” she said. “In these first couple of games we have not yet broken out into a high-powered attack, and I think we can. We’ve got to put more shots on frame and I think we’ve got to prove that we can be a terrific scoring team. Also, our goals against average is stingy so far. That’s always something we built our championship years on, and this year won’t be any different.

“We’re forming right now. I like what I see, I think we have terrific leadership, the work ethic and competition level is very high in this group, and they’re just going to have to keep getting better every day,” she added. “If they can do that, I think we’ll be vying for a championship, but it’s a long way away.”