When University of Connecticut senior Brittany Taylor’s shot sailed into the right corner of the net in the 108th minute, giving UConn a 1-0 double overtime win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the seniors of the Boston University women’s soccer team ‘-‘- Casey Brown, Taleen Dimirdjian, Mikaela Hansen, Farrell McClernon, Mara Osher, Emily Pallotta, Janie Reilly and Laura Schwartz ‘-‘- saw their season and collegiate careers come to an end in heartbreaking fashion.
Both teams fought desperately for the golden goal, but it was the Huskies who prevailed in the end, handing the Terriers an early exit in the tournament and closing the book on the BU soccer careers of eight seniors.
‘We really wanted to get a couple of games in the tournament for the seniors,’ BU coach Nancy Feldman said. ‘I know they wanted it, and we all wanted it for them.’
For the current freshmen, sophomores and juniors on the team, there’s always next year. There’s always another shot at redemption. Unfortunately, for the seniors who played their hearts out all season long and left everything they had on the field in their final game Friday night, there may not be a tomorrow.
For some of the seniors, Friday’s game marked the end of the road ‘-‘- they may never lace up their cleats to play soccer competitively again. The rest may only play in scrimmages once in a while, and only a small number of them have hopes of playing for professional teams.
Brown, three-time America East Defender of the Year and co-captain of the Terriers, is one of those select few.
‘She has a bright future, hopefully in the professional league,’ Feldman said. ‘I think Casey has an interest in that, and I think that it’s certainly something she’s capable of.’
No matter what the soccer gods hold in store for Brown, Dimirdjian, Hansen, McClernon, Osher, Pallotta, Reilly and Schwartz, they should all be proud of everything they have accomplished in their four years together at BU ‘-‘- a 53-24-9 overall record, a 27-3-1 record in America East play, three conference titles and four straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
‘Our senior class is a really tight group of people from the beginning,’ Reilly said. ‘My four years have been an unbelievable experience and being with them has really made it worthwhile. The soccer is great, but I found some great friends and I’m happy that we were able to do it together.’
The seniors have not only had an influence on their fellow classmates, but their leadership, hard work and dedication have also had a profound impact on the underclassmen who now take control of the team. This season, these eight seniors truly led by example, according to Feldman.
‘They’ve been great players and leaders all season,’ Feldman said. ‘[They’re] definitely the core [of the team], and what I hope has happened this year is that they’ve taught the younger kids what it takes ‘-‘- the preparation, and what it takes for a training mentality and also how to have fun and how to be generous and be good teammates.
‘From what I can see they did it, and they certainly rose to the occasion tonight.’
For Osher, the most rewarding part has been witnessing the results of her and her teammates commitment.
‘Everyone, especially since we’re so experienced, has really committed to what we are all about and that’s playing for each other and playing our style and everyone puts 100 percent so it’s really easy to go out there and do our thing,’ she said after the America East championship game.
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