Offense starts to come together for women’s soccer

After struggling to score goals and failing to record a win in the first six games of the year, the Boston University women’s soccer team finally broke through and produced on offense Sunday, scoring two goals in its overtime win over Hofstra University at Nickerson Field. It was the first time that BU reached the two-goal plateau this season.

In their first six contests, the Terriers (1-4-2) only notched three goals, as they were shut out in three games. They amassed 69 shots in those games, yet could not capitalize enough on their opportunities to pull out a win.

On Sunday, BU coach Nancy Feldman and her squad finally stopped that drought, thanks in part to the offense. Freshman midfielder Dorrie Varley-Barrett put the ball in the back of the net off an assist from senior forward Jenna Fisher in the 26th minute of Sunday’s match, giving the Terriers their first lead of the season.

After Hofstra (5-3) scored in the 60th minute and pushed the game into overtime, senior midfielder Clare Pleuler scored from 25 yards out in the 97th minute to clinch the win for the Terriers. Feldman took notice of her team’s improvement on the front line, but also admits that there is still work to be done.

“It’s just weeks into the season, we have new personnel, and with the way we play it takes some time to get everything coordinated and organized,” Feldman said. “We’re probably less reliant on just kind of doing one thing and playing one player. We’re a little more reliant on group work, and that does tend to take a little longer to get comfortable and coordinated. But that’s just the way we do it here.

“I see progress for sure,” she added. “The kids are working at it and we’re trying to train it, but I also think we’ve seen some results of the labor both in how we play and also in actually getting the win.”

Sunday’s win concluded the Terriers’ longest road trip of the season, which lasted six games and brought the Terriers as far as Milwaukee, Wisconsin. BU can look forward to the next two games being played at Nickerson Field. The Terriers will square off against Providence College Thursday before hosting Patriot League foe Bucknell University Sunday. According to Feldman, this upcoming home stand means a lot for her team.

“It’s really important,” Feldman said. “The wear and tear of travel, it’s tiring. You can really relate to it a little bit and also appreciate how difficult it is as a professional athlete to be on the road all the time. A lot of our travel was before school started, and even then, [without] a charter, it’s tiring.

“These players, while they’re experienced, they’re still young, and that does take some practice [to get use to]. We’re super happy to be home. We really want to make the most of it, and we want to try to protect our turf [and] play our best.”

Including their win against Hofstra, the Terriers have played three straight overtime games. BU lost in extra time to rival Northeastern University by a score of 2-1 on Sept. 3, then tied Central Connecticut State University 1-1 last Friday after two overtime periods. With all the playing time logged by her starters, Feldman has had to rely heavily on her reserves. Four players came off the bench last game against Hofstra and played at least 30 minutes.

“There’s definitely a physical effect,” Feldman said. “Between Friday and Sunday, the players who played a lot of minutes on Friday had a recovery session, so we did the best we could to get them flushed out and ready to not overdo training on Saturday. You sort of prepare as fast as you can for a two-game weekend, it’s not easy.”

“I think it’s a little bit more mentally draining, but it’s not as draining when you come out with a tie and a win,” she added. “You could potentially be losing both of those games and that makes you even more fatigued with overtime. But we’ll manage a couple of people that we feel have really had a high motor.”