The Boston University women’s soccer team drew 1-1 against Yale University in an intense non-conference matchup on Tuesday after a hard-fought second half.
“I don’t think we started on our front foot a little bit and [it was] disappointing to concede early,” head coach Casey Brown said, “but I thought we kind of grew in the game, particularly the second half. I thought that was much stronger and showed a lot of positives of who we are.”
Yale (5-4-5) got the scoring off to a quick start when junior midfielder Ellie Rappole found the back of the net in the 2nd minute. Dominating possession for a lot of the second half, the Bulldogs created a lot of opportunities for themselves.
It was a slow start for the Terriers (6-5-5, 3-2-2 Patriot League) as they had yet to register a shot before the 19th minute. Yet, BU seemed to settle into the game a bit more after senior forward Abigail McNulty drew BU’s first of three corner kicks in the first half.
After several unsuccessful attempts to rush up the left wing, junior midfielder Hugrún Helgadóttir, with additional help from freshman forward Ava Maguire, found sophomore forward Margy Porta for the equalizer in the 36th minute, sending the ball right behind Yale’s senior goalkeeper Marisa Shorrock with a strong kick and heavy traffic in front of the net. The goal was Porta’s second of the season and the only BU goal of the night.
“She’s playing with a lot of confidence right now and a lot of momentum,” Brown said about Porta. “It’s great to see her find the back of the net.”
The Bulldogs began the second half with strong strikes from Rappole and junior midfielder Tanner Cahalan that respectively landed wide and glanced off the post. Ultimately, Yale was unable to get anything past BU’s junior goalkeeper Celia Braun in the second half despite three more shots.
BU applied some pressure and kept Shorrock lunging for saves for the remainder of the match, forcing her to stop an assault of 10 shots. Even so, the Terriers created some golden chances in the remaining minutes of the match with four shots as the clock ticked down.
“We knew we could do better and wanted to prove that,” Brown said. “The girls were hungry to show and create the type of goals and ways we feel like we can score and attack, and there were some really good pictures of that overall.”
BU tied the school record for draws in a season with their fifth. They sit in fourth place in the PL standings with two games remaining, both against conference opponents.
The Terriers will now look to beat American University on Saturday in the final stretch. The match kicks off at home at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
“A big part of focusing on American is going to be just recovery and a lot of us, playing our style and playing our way and really being the aggressor,” Brown said.
