After a brief, two-game road trip, the Boston University women’s soccer team returns home to host the University of Hartford on Sunday afternoon. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Nickerson Field, where the Terriers have posted a record of 6-0-0.
‘We know how important each game is, whether it’s on the road or here [Nickerson Field],’ senior co-captain Emily Pallotta said after last Thursday’s 4-0 win over the University of Vermont. ‘Protecting the home turf, we want to keep being undefeated on our home field.’
BU (9-5-2, 5-1-0 America East) had its seven-game winning streak snapped Thursday, suffering a 2-1 loss at the hands of Stony Brook University. With this defeat, the Terriers are no longer unbeaten in their last 21 conference games.
BU hopes to get back on track against a Hartford team (4-9-2, 0-4-1 AE) that has lost four straight contests and has yet to win a game in conference play.
The Hawks are coming off a trio of defeats by the same score ‘-‘- a 1-0 loss to Binghamton University last Thursday, a 1-0 loss to the University of Maryland-Baltimore County last Sunday and Thursday’s 1-0 loss to the University of Maine. Hartford outshot these conference foes 40-32, but was still unable to find the back of the net. The Hawks currently sit at the bottom of America East.
The Terriers, however, cannot afford to take them on lightly just because the Hawks are in last place in the conference standings.
The last time these two teams played each other was on Oct. 26, 2008, in the America East regular-season finale, with BU defeating Hartford, 1-0, behind Casey Brown’s game-winning header with 12 seconds remaining in the second overtime period. With the win, BU finished the season with a perfect conference record of 8-0-0 for the first time since 2000.
Hartford has been outscored, 15-21, and outshot, 186-200, by its opponents in its first 15 games of the season.
That’s good news for a Terrier offense that has been on fire as of late, exploding for 19 goals in its last eight games. America East Co-Player of the Week for the second straight week, senior Emily Pallotta leads the team with five goals during that stretch. Freshman Megan McGoldrick, junior Shauna Keller, senior Taleen Dimirdjian, junior Corie Halasz, senior Farrell McClernon, senior co-captain Casey Brown, sophomore Jessica Luscinski, sophomore Tiya Gallegos and freshman Jessica Morrow have also crashed the scoring party during these eight games.
Redshirt freshman Alex Uscilla leads Hartford in goals (4) and points (10). Right behind her is senior midfielder Laura Guigli, who has recorded three goals, three assists and nine points. Junior Mary Beth Hamilton leads the team in assists with three, while sophomore forward Breeanna Robinson’s 33 shots are tops on the team, 12 of them being on goal.
Sophomore goalkeeper Lauren Brodeur, a Wilbraham, Mass. native, will be between the pipes for the Hawks. She has started all 15 games this season, playing in every minute of every game. She has allowed 21 goals, saved 70 shots and posted three shutouts so far this season. Her goals-against average is 1.36, accompanied by a 0.79 save percentage.
With a strong performance against the Hawks on Sunday afternoon, the Terriers can get back to their winning ways and continue the one streak that still survives: their 15-game home winning streak.
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