The wind could be a factor. So could the health of its offensive leader. But the Boston University women’s soccer team heads into Friday afternoon’s first round NCAA Tournament game against the University of Connecticut with confidence.
And why shouldn’t they? Regular season champions, conference tournament champions and the most individual award winners of any team in the America East only builds character.
The task, however, is a daunting one: knock off the No. 15 team in the country when said team is coming off a surprising defeat in its conference tournament.
BU coach Nancy Feldman knows Connecticut will be hungry. She knows that on paper, her team is probably overmatched. But she has players who can handle that type of pressure.
Perhaps a tidbit of good news for BU is that 28-point scorer Melissa Shulman will take the field as an active member of the lineup. Despite having an MRI on Monday and spending the beginning of the week on crutches, Feldman said, ‘doctors have cleared her to play.’ How much she will be able to contribute still remains a question mark.
‘She’s doing alright, and she is going to be capable of playing,’ Feldman said. ‘We won’t know until [today] what percentage that is or what number of minutes that is, but we will figure that out as we go along.’
In scouting their opponent this week, BU coaches put together a 12-minute video package to show the team the way the Huskies operate.
‘The information we have gotten has been very helpful,’ Feldman said. ‘We’ve gotten a picture of what they look like, how they move and what their style is like. I think it takes the fear out of ‘the big bad Huskies, who are all 6 foot 5 inches and run like the wind.’ To see them on tape lets us see that they are human, that they make mistakes and when pressured, they look like regular college soccer players.’
The Terriers (13-5-4) are making their third NCAA appearance in the school’s ninth season as a Division I soccer program. This will be Connecticut’s 22nd College Cup, a fact that garners at least some admiration.
‘I think it is also important to respect what they do well and how technical they are,’ Feldman said. ‘We actually end the [clips] tape with the goal that Hartford scored on them, which I think is important for [our players] to have a vision that well, Hartford is a team that we dominated. Granted, we lost the game, but they penetrated [Connecticut], and they scored on them. They got the chance, and they really worked.’
One of the main goals in Friday’s game will be to neutralize two potent Huskies’ (10-5-3) attackers. Forwards Kristen Graczyk and Jessica Gjertsen have combined for 26 of the 40 goals Connecticut has scored this season, and Graczyk won the Big East Conference’s Offensive Player of the Year. In addition, the Huskies’ defense allowed only 17 goals in 18 games while playing a difficult schedule that included five top-25 opponents.
‘We are going to have to have a lot of attention to detail in our defending,’ Feldman said. ‘We are going to have to be aggressive, but we are going to have to be under control and play with a plan. [Goalkeeper] Jessica Clinton is going to be a lynchpin for us. They will get chances and they will get shots and they may get more opportunities than we do. We are going to need Jessica to be a dominant force for us.’
The wind could also play a role in the game, as it is expected to gust to more than 50 miles per hour throughout the match.
‘There may be conditions that we are going to have to make adjustments for and I don’t know if the wind is going to be directional,’ Feldman said.
After two days off, the Terriers had a spirited practice on Wednesday and went to Boston College yesterday to get a feel for the playing surface and wind conditions for Friday. There’s no doubt that Feldman will have her team ready to play, but she said she will look for role players to fill voids throughout the game. Look for senior Katie Chen to contribute, along with sophomore Christina Kim.
The winner of today’s game plays on Sunday against either BC or Central Connecticut State University, who are scheduled to play later Friday evening. Feldman said that although a rematch with Boston College would be nice for both BU and Connecticut the Terriers lost to the Eagles while the Huskies won in overtime during the regular season neither team is taking anything for granted.
‘They certainly are probably feeling confident that they are the better team,’ Feldman said of the Huskies. ‘I don’t know what there mentality is, but when they got upset in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament, I imagine that might have taken care of any overlooking. I mean, they felt the agony of defeat and it was pretty painful.
‘I think they are very well coached and I think they are going to take us seriously, but they know they are the dominant team [because] they have been ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in the region all season long,’ Feldman added.
BU’s first and only NCAA Tournament victory came on Nov. 8, 2000, when it beat the College of the Holy Cross, 1-0. The Terriers’ lost their next game against Dartmouth College, 4-1, while their only other appearance was in 2001, a 4-1 loss to Rutgers University.