The Boston University women’s soccer team will vie for its third straight America East championship on Saturday when it faces Binghamton University at Nickerson Field at 1 p.m.
It wasn’t easy for the Terriers to get to the championship game, as it took overtime in the semifinals against Stony Brook University to get there. With the Terriers trailing, 1-0, in the second half, freshman Jessica Morrow netted her third goal of the season off a feed from senior Emily Pallotta. The teams stayed deadlocked at one until the extra period.
In overtime, it was Pallotta who recorded the game-winner, heading home a feed from senior Farrell McClernon in the 98th minute. It was Pallotta’s eighth goal of the season, and arguably her most important. The goal propelled the Terriers to their third America East title game in as many years.
Binghamton had an even tougher time in its semifinal matchup, needing more than just overtime to knock out the University of Maine. The two teams battled for 110 minutes without recording a goal, sending the game into penalty kicks. In penalty kicks, senior goaltender Jen McEachron came up huge with a save on the second kicker for Maine. Soon after, senior Nicole Montoya put away the game-winner to send the Bearcats to the championship game.
Freshmen Jamie Holliday and Emily Pape have led the Bearcats this year. Both have recorded four goals this season and have taken the bulk of Binghamton’s shots.
Pallotta leads the Terriers with 19 points, just ahead of sophomore Jessica Luscinski (18 points) and McClernon (17 p), a scary trio for opposing defenses. Senior Janie Reilly will be manning the net for BU, where she has been a brick wall this season with eight shutouts.
The Terriers have been outstanding on both ends this year, scoring an astounding 39 goals, while giving up just 14. Binghamton has been a more defensive squad this year, scoring only 17 goals, but giving up just 16. The Bearcats will look to slow down BU’s powerful offense, depending mostly on McEachron in net.
These two teams met up earlier in the season, when the Terriers beat the Bearcats, 3-0, at Nickerson Field on Sept. 27. In 2007, the two teams faced each other in an America East semifinal game where BU won, 2-0. The Terriers have also dominated the all-time series against the Bearcats, posting an 8-1 record in nine games between the two clubs.
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