Boston University women’s soccer secured a playoff spot in the Patriot League Tournament with a clean sheet in Saturday’s 4-0 match against American University at a rainy Nickerson Field.
“I think it was a great day overall,” head coach Casey Brown said. “Really complete performance by the team. It’s great to score that many goals but honestly, I think we’re really proud of having a clean sheet as well.”
The Terriers (7-5-5, 4-2-2 Patriot League) were aggressive from the first whistle against the Eagles (3-8-4, 3-4-1 PL). The offense put up 24 shots against American junior goalkeeper Julia Kato, 14 of which were on goal. The Terriers maintained a relentless attack on the American defense, which matched the struggle of their offense that only managed six shots, just a quarter of BU’s total.
The Terriers kept the ball on American’s side of the pitch for the majority of the first half with three shots coming off sophomore midfielder Giulianna Gianino and junior forward Morgan Fagan within the first nine minutes of the match.
It was sophomore midfielder Natalie Godoy that got the scoring started for BU when she took advantage of Kato’s aggressive distance from the net and scored into an open goal in the 10th minute, assisted by senior defender Kayla Ross.
Kato risked coming out of the goal to try and break up BU’s play in the box several times throughout the match, and BU took full advantage of those opportunities.
It was BU’s Senior Day, but sophomores dominated the scoresheet in the first half as Gianino evaded the keeper and finally found the back of the net on her third shot in the 18th minute, adding another goal to BU’s lead.
Umbrellas in the stands remained up, and the second half ran a similar story to the first, with BU looking at more opportunities for shots and playing aggressive offense.
Sophomore forward Margy Porta missed an opportunity for a goal in the 66th minute when Kato came out of goal again to defend, but the goalkeeper managed to escape an even bigger deficit as Porta shot too wide.
Kato made 10 total saves for American on Saturday, which was not enough to prevent BU from racking up four goals. She left another open goal for Godoy to score in the 83rd minute. The ball was centered by senior forward Abigail McNulty, who had created several opportunities for BU in the second half and was awarded the assist.
McNulty was particularly active in getting past American defenders in the half, and in the last minute of the game, she scored the fourth and final goal.
“I thought she was excellent,” Brown said. “Our whole attack was really strong, and we were aggressive and behind today … to put up four goals is great.”
The Terriers remain undefeated by the Eagles, with a 7-0 all-time record in home matches and a 9-0-2 record overall.
The Terriers are now fourth in the PL standings with 14 points, only one point away from a share of second place. They travel to face first-place Army on Wednesday Oct. 25 for the last match of the regular season, kicking off at 6 p.m.
