The Boston University women’s soccer team continued their two-game road trip against the University of Connecticut Sunday after a 0-4 shutout loss against Princeton University (2-1-1) on Thursday.
Both offensive and defensive woes continued for the Terriers (0-5-1) as they took another loss against UConn (3-2-1), an out-of-conference opponent by a score of 3-1.
“We’re just giving up too many goals,” BU head coach Nancy Feldman said. “[We] always prided ourselves on pulling clean sheets long enough for us to find goals and right now we’re not doing that.”
The Terriers opened the first period against the Huskies with a trio of corner kick opportunities, all kicked by junior forward Anna Heilferty. None of these corner kicks would end up leading BU to score, as freshman defender Ashley Buck’s shot after the first corner kick was blocked, UConn goalkeeper Randi Palacios saved a shot from sophomore midfielder Taylor Kofton in the second corner kick, and Heilferty shot wide from the net after the third corner kick.
After two offside penalties against BU, the Huskies would open the scoring with a goal from redshirt sophomore forward Kess Elmore, her third of the season for UConn.
UConn would continue more pressure on the BU goal with two shot attempts from Husky forward Yamilee Eveillard. One shot was blocked and the other shot missed the goal.
The Terriers would later sub out a handful of players to shake up their offensive strategy, one of them being Heilferty coming out in favor of sophomore Jenna Oldham. Kofton would attempt one more shot on goal for the Terriers in the first half with just under four minutes remaining, but it would end up being saved by Palacios and the period would end with the Huskies having the 1-0 edge.
Heilferty would come back out onto the field for the half. UConn would pressure BU with five shots within the first ten minutes of the half, and BU would only be able to attempt one shot during that time.
The pressure from the Huskies would eventually lead to another goal, with Husky forward Duda Santin adding to the Huskies lead with her first goal on the season.
With 15 minutes remaining in regulation, UConn led the Terriers in second-half shots 13-1. In the 80th minute BU would receive a penalty kick opportunity. McKenna Kennedy attempted the kick and missed, marking the second straight game BU missed a penalty kick in the 80th minute.
The Terriers would put the penalty kick miss aside and strike mack in the 82nd minute. Sophomore forward Ashley Raphael would score her first career goal to make the score 2-1 Huskies.
It would not be long before the Huskies would claim their two-point lead back. At the 85 minute mark, Husky forward Regan Schiappa would collect her first goal of the season with an assist from Elmore to make the score 3-1.
No stoppage time would be added and the game ended at the 90-minute mark. The Husky offense overpowered BU in the game, outshooting the Terriers 21-8.
The Terriers will return home and begin a four-game homestand Thursday evening against Northeastern University (2-2) at Nickerson Field.
Feldman wants to focus on not playing soccer games from behind, regardless of the opponent.
“We can’t keep playing down and try to come back from goal deficits from good teams,” Feldman said. “We’re going back to the drawing board and we’re gonna figure it out.”
