What a way to start the season. A win would have been enough. But against your archrivals? Even better.
The Boston University women’s soccer team defeated No. 9 Boston College, 1-0, in the 94th minute last Friday at Nickerson Field.
“It’s a good sign and a great start,” said BU coach Nancy Feldman. “It’s better to win the first game than lose it.”
The game was scoreless until freshman Farrell McClernon booted the game-winning kick 22-yards into the opposing net at 93:27. Senior Lauren Erwin was credited with the assist on McClernon’s first collegiate goal.
“That was a huge boost for her,” Feldman, who has been at BU for 12 years, said. “The goal keeper wasn’t ready for it.”
McClernon started with three other freshmen to lead a young but poised BU attack in front of 322 fans.
“The freshmen were very poised and composed the way they approached and played the game,” Feldman said.
One of the other freshmen to start, Emily Pallotta, was psyched to see her team play well out of the gate.
“Although we fielded a young team and started four freshmen we were able to play poised and connected as a team,” Pallotta said. “It shows that we can play against the best competition and win against a team ranked ninth in the country.”
According to Feldman, the team had a series of good practices during the preseason. It helped, apparently, as they were able to outlast BC.
“The team looked fresh,” Feldman said. “The freshman came in fit, and the sophomores came in with a good mentality to work hard.”
The Terriers needed all that fitness and stamina for the game, but Feldman noted that the length of the game did not affect their play.
“The fitness base is a good start, but it wasn’t a factor for us,” Feldman said. “Players were fatigued but it didn’t affect their play.”
One player who didn’t appear fatigued was senior goalkeeper Stephanie Dreyer. She played the full 93:27, making seven saves.
“Stephanie played great and did a good job on balls that got played through,” Feldman said. “She gets on balls very quickly that a lot [of other keepers] don’t get to. She got the ones she had to handle, especially on a wet night.”
Dreyer faced five shots in the opening half, four more in the second half, and one in overtime as BC outshot BU, 10-8. BU scored on its only shot in overtime against BC goalkeeper Arianna Criscione, who had two saves.
“She has good speed for a goaltender,” Feldman said. “She does a lot of things beforehand so things don’t become dangerous.”
The Terriers committed seven fouls while their opponent had five. The Eagles only mustered one corner kick while BU attempted five.
“Stephanie and the whole back line really helped to temper BC’s attack and keep possession to start our attack,” Pallotta said. “She had some key saves that kept us in the game and gave us a spark.”
The game was the fourth consecutive opening meeting between the Terriers and Eagles, with each team recording two wins. The Terriers improved their series record with BC to 4-6 by winning the third overtime game of the series.
“I think it was a good tone to start our season off with big win against our archrivals,” Pallotta said before her team’s game Wednesday at UMass-Amherst. “We want to take one game at a time. On Friday night we went out there and got done what we needed and even though we beat one of the top ranked teams our main focus right now is our next game.”
In that next game on Wednesday, August 30th, the Terriers weren’t so lucky. They dropped a 3-1 decision to UMass-Amherst. Emily Pollotta scored the lone BU goal, banging home a Melissa Schumacher-Hodge corner kick in the 11th minute.
However, BU would surrender the equalizer just one minute later before surrendering two more goals in the later minutes.
BU out-shot UMass 9-7, but three of those seven strikes found their way past Dreyer.
“We started off well early on in the game with a number of quality chances,” Feldman told the BU athletics website after the game. “After our goal, they countered and scored on their first opportunity. From that point on things started to go their way and we were fighting an uphill battle. After the third goal we started to play more with our backs against the wall, but they held on.”