The Boston University women’s soccer team cruised to its fifth straight victory in America East conference play on Sunday as it defeated Stony Brook University, 4-0, at Nickerson Field.
The winning streak was kept alive three days before when the Terriers traveled south to face the University of Maryland-Baltimore County. In a match where BU (8-5-0, 3-0-0 AE) outshot the Retrievers (2-9-1, 1-2-0), 18-6, one shot was all it needed to put away its opponent. Freshman midfielder Kylie Strom came off the bench and capitalized on a UMBC turnover to score her first collegiate goal.
This set up a home match against a motivated Stony Brook (2-8-2, 1-1-1) squad with plenty on the line. In last year’s AE semifinal match, the Terriers ended the Seawolves’ season before going on to winning the conference title.
Now with a three-game winning streak, Stony Brook looked to come in with momentum and revenge on its mind.
The match started off much like the past few Terrier matches with BU dominating possession of the ball and creating many chances and shots on net. BU outshot Stony Brook, 12-2, in the first half with its first prime opportunity coming in the 14th minute as junior forward Tiya Gallegos sent a shot that rang off of the crossbar. The rebound went to fellow junior forward Jessica Luscinski who took an awkward shot that was stopped at the last second by a Seawolves defender.
Several close plays were denied by opposing keeper Chelsea Morales, who had four saves in the first half. But the Terriers eventually capitalized when Gallegos received a nice pass by midfielder Brittany Heist from across the top of the 18-yard box that was craftily sent into the bottom lower right side of the net. That was Gallegos’ second goal of the season.
BU ended the half keeping the pressure in Stony Brook’s zone but could not build on its one goal lead going into half.
Halftime proved to be a spark for the Terriers as they played with a sense of urgency and desperation for the entire second half.
“At halftime, [BU coach Nancy Feldman] just told us that we need to be more aggressive going forward,” said freshman forward Emma Clark.
BU immediately pushed the ball forward to start the half and didn’t stop until the ball slammed the back of the net.
From the 49th to the 57th minute, the Terriers kept the ball in the Seawolves’ zone and held a shooting clinic on the Stony Brook net. There were three corner kicks in the span of 12 minutes that kept Stony Brook on its heels.
The crucial next goal eventually came in the 57th minute when Clark sent an absolute rocket from Shauna Kelleher off the crossbar in to the far left side of the net.
“Coach has told me to be more aggressive…so the shot I took was coach saying that in my head to me,” Clark said.
Clark was definitely a bright side to Sunday’s contest as she contributed in all aspects of the game and helped open up the match in the second half. She also assisted on the third Terrier goal, a score by graduate student forward Lisa Kevorkian who added her eighth goal of the season on the one-timer from Clark.
Junior midfielder Krista Minto added one more goal and freshman keeper Andrea Green entered the game in the 77th minute to help the team to their fifth straight win and fifth straight shutout, a school record.
BU will be tested in the upcoming weeks as it prepares to start four straight road games, beginning with the University of Hartford on Thursday.
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