The Boston University women’s soccer team, now the No. 1 seed in Patriot League standings, have secured a spot in the PL Tournament after a 1-0 shutout victory over Bucknell University Sunday at Nickerson Field. BU remains undefeated in conference play.
Before facing the Bison (9-4-2, 5-2-0 Patriot League), the Terriers (4-7-5, 4-0-3 PL) honored seniors Celia Braun, Eileen Solomon, Erin Sullenberger, Morgan Fagan, Hugrún Helgadóttir and graduate student Lily Matthews for their commitment and dedication to the program.
“It’s a really special senior class, and I know that we all wanted to win today for them, but in general, they just wanted the team to win too,” said assistant coach Megan Burke. “It’s obviously a day to celebrate them, but I think we’re obviously celebrating more than the senior class and the team in general today.”
In the game’s early stages, freshman defender Alli Powderly made a pass to junior midfielder Mackenzie Stickelman. However, the pass was unsuccessful, and BU could not capitalize on the early opportunity to take the lead in the opening minutes.
Nearly eight minutes in, midfielder Matthews attempted a shot, but Bison junior goalkeeper Jess Benattar deflected it. Both teams kept up the offensive intensity in the early stages of the half.
The Terriers earned their first corner kick of the game within the first half of the period, with junior midfielder Giulianna Gianino sending the ball into play. Just five seconds later, a header by junior defender Helene Tyburczy narrowly missed the target, squandering another chance for Boston University to take the lead.
As the first half drew to a close, the Bison sought to apply pressure in the Terriers’ zone but could not convert.
The Terriers broke the deadlock nearly 40 minutes in, when freshman forward Juliana Osterman scored her first collegiate goal off an assist from sophomore midfielder Kaiya Stewart.
“It was just awesome to be surrounded by my awesome teammates and to celebrate with them afterwards,” Osterman said. “I’ve just been waiting for this moment, and it’s nice to finally feel it, especially in a big game like today.”
As the clock ticked down to the final 45 minutes of play in the second half, Bucknell was on the offensive and was set on applying more pressure in the Terrier zone. Bucknell senior midfielder Teresa Deda took a corner kick and fired off a shot about a minute later that was expertly saved by Carr, preventing Bucknell from equalizing.
“Honestly, [the strategy] was continue to do what we are doing,” Burke said. “We talked a lot about game management, and you can kind of tell as the second half carried through that the girls did a really good job of managing that.”
In the latter part of the game, both teams had opportunities to increase their lead, but they could not maximize any opportunities. Fegan bypassed three defenders in the final minutes of the game, but her subsequent shot was saved.
Each team made five corner kicks during the game, but Bucknell committed 12 fouls compared to BU’s seven.
Looking ahead, the Terriers will next face off against American University on Saturday, Oct. 26 at 1 p.m. in a Patriot League showdown in Washington, D.C.
