After trailing 1-0 for over 86 minutes, the Boston University women’s soccer team scored two goals in four minutes to complete a comeback over Providence College at Nickerson Field on Sunday afternoon.
The win over the Friars (1-1) was first-year head coach Casey Brown’s first win at the helm for the Terriers (1-1).
“To win a game is awesome against a very, very good, tough Providence team,” Brown said postgame. “[It] feels great to do it in dramatic fashion and late is also especially awesome. [It] certainly heightened emotions and stuff like that, but I just couldn’t be happier for the team.”
The Terriers dominated on the offensive end during the opening minutes of the match, as they notched three corners in the first five minutes.
However, it was Friars junior forward Meg Hughes who opened the scoring in the 15th minute and drilled a shot past the Terriers’ sophomore goalkeeper Celia Braun.
“They have a lot of dangerous attacking personalities,” Brown said. “[Hughes is] certainly one of them. We just want it to be compact between our lines, people to read cues really well from a collective front.”
With just over ten minutes to play in the first half, Terriers junior forward Abigail McNulty had a chance to even the game up, but blasted a shot just above the goal post and Providence’s junior goalkeeper Emma Bodmer.
With the match holding at 1-0 in favor of the Friars at halftime, Brown substituted senior goalkeeper Gretchen Bennett in for Braun. This two goalkeeper system was employed in nearly every game last season.
“Overall, we have a really talented roster,” Brown said. “[There are] relationships all over the field that we’re still exploring, and the girls just come hard everyday training. [In our] goalkeeping position we have some really strong depth.”
In the opening minute of the second half, McNulty had another opportunity as she positioned herself for a shot, but it went wide and hit the side of the net. Bennett made an exceptional save on a shot from Providence’s sophomore forward Gillian Kenney with just 26 minutes left to play in the game.
BU had another chance as freshman defender Morgan Weaver shot just high of the goal with under twenty minutes to play.
Providence thought they had put the game away in the 84th minute as graduate student midfielder Hannah Pinkus headed a ball towards the goal off of a corner kick. The Friars celebrated, thinking the ball had crossed the goalline, but Bennett had made the crucial save.
After nearly a full game of excellent defense from the Friars, the momentum quickly shifted.
“It’s hard to break the deadlock,” Brown said. “They were difficult to break down and I again credit [it] to our players. If A is not working, you got to go to B and C and still trust our style and trust our way, but the resiliency to do it is really what I’m proud of.”
With 3:15 to play in the game, senior defender Kayla Ross crossed the ball to freshman midfielder Giullianna Giannio, who scored her first career goal to tie the game.
The ball was bouncing around BU’s offensive third and with a mere 13.1 seconds remaining, Terrier senior midfielder Sophia Woodland came through in the clutch, burying a goal towards the far post to take the lead and, eventually, win the game.
Following Sunday’s win, the Terriers will hit the road to play against the University of Massachusetts Lowell on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
