Nickerson Field saw men and women’s soccer split two Patriot League games back-to-back Saturday against Lehigh University and Lafayette University, respectively.
Women’s soccer (4-7-2, 3-0-1 Patriot League) saw freshman midfielder Taylor Kofton score the first goals of her collegiate career in a shutout against Lafayette (4-7, 1-3 Patriot League).
BU head coach Nancy Feldman spoke to the “pleasant surprise” of the Norton native’s grittiness on the field.
“[Kofton] has grown every single game,” Feldman said. “It’s unusual to have a freshman who shows that much poise and confidence, and I think she scored two great ones today and has a lot more in her.”
The men’s team (2-6-2, 1-1 Patriot League) then followed with an overtime defeat against Patriot League-leading Lehigh (5-4-1, 2-0 Patriot League).
Junior midfielder Satchel Cortet scored his second goal of the season, but the Mountain Hawks’ two-goal response held onto the win.
Terrier head coach Neil Roberts commended the team’s efforts.
“[Cortet] is working hard,” Roberts said. “Everyone’s working hard, we’re just not doing enough to win.”
The afternoon started with a women’s game that held tightly onto the ball, outshooting Lafayette by 20 and holding 13 of 15 corner kicks throughout the game.
BU held off Leopard shooting attempts entirely through the first half.
Kofton’s first goal came in the 28th minute, heading the ball past Lafayette goalkeeper Maggie Pohl off of an assist from senior defender Pietra Sweeney.
The assist was also Sweeney’s first point of the season.
Eight of the Terriers’ shots and corners came before halftime, opposite of Lafayette’s goose eggs in both categories.
The Leopards came into the second half with a more energetic offense with four players generating shots.
However, it was not enough against a BU squad that came out of the locker room and doubled its shot attempts from the first half.
The Terriers’ second goal of the match — a soft roll into the net after a series of defensive errors from Lafayette off of a corner — was also attributed to Kofton.
In all, Pohl was forced to make nine saves in the loss, tying her season-high total, who sophomore goalkeeper Amanda Fay earned her first shutout win of the season in a match without any official saves on her end of the field.
Feldman attributed the team’s consistent offensive pressure in part to defensive stability.
“The reason we were able to continue to supply pressure and play in [Lafayette’s] half of the field was because we did focus on our defensive communication and organization,” Feldman said. “They have fantastic players … we really held them down [with team organization.]”
The record in the men’s game took longer to decide.
BU outshot Lehigh in the opening half, but it took until the 62nd minute for Cortet to open scoring after some quick crossing in and around the 18-yard box ended with Mountain Hawk goalkeeper Will Smith losing the ball.
However, Lehigh would outpace the Terriers in shot production 8-2 through the second half, and the Mountain Hawks’ leading scorer, senior forward Mark Forrest, would strike his fourth of the season to tie the game in the 79th minute.
It only took one shot three minutes into extra time for Lehigh defender Matthew Peralta to nail the game-winning goal behind the left post.
The game also saw the return of senior midfielder Adam Wright, who played his first game after missing the entirety of the 2017 season with an injury.
Despite the return of Wright, Roberts identified the loss of two players during the match, including senior defender Josh Barkoff, as a contributing factor to the loss.
“We were bit unorganized after we lost those two guys at the same time,” Roberts said. “It took us awhile to get it going.”
