The Boston University women’s soccer team fell to Colgate University in double overtime 1-0 Wednesday. The loss ended a short season for the team — it played a mere four games prior to this week’s showdown and entered the playoffs with a record of 2-1-1.
“Would’ve been nice to get a few more games under our belt this spring,” head coach Nancy Feldman said in a post-game press conference. “But we are also grateful that we had a season and we had a shot at getting to the finals.”
As play began, it was clear the Terriers were still adjusting to game speed after their last two matches were canceled — they last played March 27 — while Colgate was coming off a Friday victory.
“I thought we started a little rusty, [we] haven’t played in a few weeks,” Feldman said. “I thought we were a step behind, but I thought we found our groove about 15 minutes to go in the first half.”
The first half of play was fairly even, with both teams getting their chances on goal. Unfortunately for the Terriers, a couple of potential chances were thwarted away with offside calls.
As the second half began, Colgate immediately burst out with a scoring chance. However, thanks to a save from junior goalkeeper Morgan Messner, the Terriers managed to keep the score locked at zero.
“We got great goalkeeping from Morgan,” Feldman said.
On the offensive side, the loss of junior midfielder Taylor Kofton just nine minutes into the first half proved costly for BU, who was already without sophomore midfielder Julianna Stureman. In Kofton’s place was freshman midfielder Lily Matthews, who seemed to be near the ball the entire game.
“I thought Lily Matthews had one of her best games as a Terrier,” Feldman said. “She definitely popped out in the game quite a bit and was in and around it.”
Along with Matthews, Feldman said junior forward Jenna Oldham — two shots, one on goal — and senior midfielder McKenna Kennedy both had strong performances Wednesday night.
“[Kennedy] really held our team together defensively in the midfield,” Feldman said. “ Jenna Oldham has had a really good spring, and again competed like a champ.”
The game would ultimately head into a sudden-death overtime. The first overtime period was more of the same back-and-forth battle seen in the second half. The second overtime saw Colgate’s senior midfielder Sage Digiulio score just 33 seconds into the period. The Raiders will now advance to play Navy for the Patriot League Championship.
For BU, the team remains optimistic moving forward.
“We’ve got a lot of good young players that got a taste of it,” Feldman said of the playoffs. “I hope we can use this experience this spring and the experience of playing in a tournament game to be one, motivation and two, the real experience of growth.”
