The Boston University women’s soccer team will continue conference play against Colgate University on Wednesday at Nickerson Field. The Terriers (1-10, 1-1 Patriot League) haven’t had the best start to the year, starting with the season with 10 straight losses, but will be looking to build off Saturday’s win over American University.
Both the Terriers and Raiders (4-3-3, 2-0 Patriot League) recently defeated American (0-10, 0-2 Patriot League) by the same 1-0 score. Though Colgate is undefeated in conference play, the team does have its weaknesses.
Raider goalkeeper Kelly Chiavaro is only a freshman, and has started every game thus far. She has put up some impressive numbers through the first 10 games, boasting a 0.786 save percentage and a 1.40 goals against average, good for fifth-best among league goaltenders. Still, the young Canadian lacks college soccer experience.
Despite Chiavaro’s quality statline, BU head coach Nancy Feldman tries not to focus too much on the other team and individual players. Rather, she’s looking to get her team back on track offensively as the Terriers have only netted three goals this season.
“We know what their tendencies are; we worry about us,” Feldman said. “You only have to win a game by one but it would be nice if our number of goals improved.”
Freshman Abby Sotomayor leads the Raiders with seven goals, and has scored half of the team’s fourteen goals on the year.
Colgate has the sixth-most productive offense in the league, and the Terriers will have their hands full defending Sotomayor on Wednesday.
“[Sotomayor is] a dynamic player,” Feldman said. “We’ve dealt with a lot of strong individual players. We’re just going to focus on our team defense, limiting their time on our back surge and disrupting their attacking players. We will be aware of Abby. We will work on limiting her touches and don’t give her time and space when she gets the ball.”
Colgate has put up the most shots in the league this season, while the Terriers are fourth with 132 shots. However, BU is not as good at converting those into goals as other teams.
The Terriers will look to sophomore midfielder Dorrie Varley-Barrett to be a leader for the offense moving forward. The Chelmsford native is tied for the third-most shots on the team, and has netted a goal thus far.
Aside from a struggling offense, BU has another big hole in its game. The Terriers have allowed their opponents to take 64 corner kicks, which is more than any team in the conference. Feldman is not particularly concerned with the corner category, though.
“It’s an arbitrary number unless you dissect each team you play,” Feldman said. “I don’t really look at a team’s numbers. I just don’t think it tells the story. Once it’s in conference play you can start to see a team’s strengths. It matters because we all play each other.”
Ultimately Feldman wants her team to continue to play its best soccer, and likes the progress her team has made.
“We should continue to improve our ability to play and attack under pressure and create goal scoring chances like we did the other day against American,” Feldman said. “We are doing it with a lot of variety. We aren’t a one-trick pony. That’s how I always envisioned our team.”
