After falling to Harvard University on Tuesday night, the Boston University women’s soccer team hopes to return to dominating its conference with a win over Lafayette College on Saturday.
The Terriers (5-5-3, 3-0-1 Patriot League) are at the top of the league standings while the Leopards (5-4-1, 0-3-1 Patriot League) sit at the bottom.
BU coach Nancy Feldman disregards the league standings, though.
“Records go out the window,” she said. “No matter what their record, the team is going to show up to play. I don’t think any team has an advantage. Each game is its own entity. [Lafayette] is desperate to get a win in the Patriot League. We want to keep getting points.”
The Leopards have not won a game against a Patriot League team, but their record is a false representation of their abilities. Lafayette’s last two games have gone into double overtime. The previous three were forced into overtime. In these games, their record is 1-3-1 but the Leopards started their season 4-1, with three of those wins being shutouts.
One player in particular sticks out from the Lafayette roster. Junior Kaelin King has recorded six goals and two assists in ten games this season. Of her team’s 118 total shots, 36 have come off her foot.
The forward sits atop of the league in points per game with a 1.40 average. Only three players best her 14 total points this season. King places top three in the league in shots, shots per game, goals and goals per game.
Lafayette’s starting keeper, Danielle Sedillo, gives up 1.41 goals per game and saves .609 percent of the shots she faces.
Feldman is confident in her team’s ability to face a strong goalkeeper like Sedillo.
“We don’t have to change a lot [to continue being offensively successful],” she said. “We just got to keep doing what we’re doing.”
She said her team just needs to bring their best, put on defensive pressure and create turnovers. Until this week, BU has shown little problems in accomplishing those tasks against any opponent. The Terriers earned a point in seven consecutive games until their loss to Harvard on Tuesday.
“We lost our commitment and focus Tuesday night,” Feldman recalled. “We need to see if we can get back to playing a full ninety minutes, not get disrupted, and keep our focus.”
The Terriers have proven they can do all of the above. Despite giving up seven goals in their first three matches, the Terriers have only allowed three goals in their past three games. Senior defender McKenzie Hollenbaugh and junior defender Rachel Bloznalis have excelled and prevented teams from getting scoring chances.
Even if Lafayette powered through BU’s defense, senior goalkeeper Alyssa Parisi has shut down most shots that have come her way this season. She averages a 0.97 goals-against average.
The Terriers have battled back from a difficult start to the season and are showing improvements on both sides of the ball. Parisi, Hollenbaugh and Bloznalis have solidified the back, all while freshman forward McKenna Doyle is leading the attack. She has four goals and one assist on the year.
Even though her team has been on an impressive streak for nearly a month now, Feldman does not think her team will falter.
“A focused, motivated, mature team knows that you have to be consistent in your approach,” she said. “It’s no different from doing anything else. You need to keep getting better. Our goal is to keep doing that.”
