Four days after recording the program’s historic 200th victory with a 1-0 win over Dartmouth University, the Boston University women’s soccer team looked to avoid a major letdown against Binghamton University on Sunday in a rematch of last year’s America East championship game.
Unfortunately for Binghamton (4-10-1, 2-3-1 America East), Sunday’s contest would not be a trap game for BU (12-5-0, 6-0-0), as the Terriers easily knocked off the Bearcats, 4-0, at the Bearcats Sports Complex. With the win, BU clinched a share of the AE regular-season title and extended its winning streak to nine straight games.
“They didn’t let [a letdown] happen as far as getting the victory and that is definitely a credit to their determination to meet their goals,” said BU coach Nancy Feldman. “But it wasn’t our best performance, and they would, I think, agree. We could have stumbled on the road after a big win. Having said that, we gutted it out.”
The usual suspect, graduate student forward Lisa Kevorkian, opened the scoring in the 23rd minute, depositing the ball into the lower right corner of the net. She added her second of the game and conference-leading 12th goal of the season with a bicycle kick off of a cross from freshman midfielder Kylie Strom.
“Lisa has been a tremendous addition this year,” Feldman said. “She shares the ball really well and makes outstanding runs off the ball. She gets opportunities, and she makes the most of them.”
From then on, the Bearcats would press for the equalizer. Binghamton forced BU junior goalkeeper Alice Binns and freshman keeper Kelly King to make three saves apiece in their halves of duty in the net.
“This game, they actually did have to make some important saves,” Feldman said. “The game was close enough where they had to work really hard to preserve the shutout, keep the game in hand and win it. I’m glad they were tested. They’ve been sharp in training, and they’re getting tested every day in training. But there’s nothing like facing pressure in a real game.”
The final result was put out of question by two late Terrier goals. A dribble down the left sideline by freshman midfielder Emma Clark was finished with a key goal in the 86th minute. Four minutes later, junior forward Jessica Luscinski beat the clock with a last-minute strike, putting in her ninth of the season with two seconds to go in the game.
Although the Terriers earned their ninth consecutive blank sheet and haven’t allowed a goal in more than 828 minutes, Feldman has seen her backline get too comfortable as of late, especially because it has faced limited offensive pressure from its opponents in recent games.
“We want to continue to play well and to be hitting our stride toward the postseason,” Feldman said. “This week, I would like to focus on our defense because we have relaxed a little bit in our technique, focus and our individual and group defending. I would like to see us refocus in that area in the next two practices.”
BU’s victory continued its undefeated conference schedule. The University of New Hampshire (3-6-3, 4-2-0) and the University at Albany (8-6-2, 3-1-2) represent the only threats to the top spot with two games to go for every team in AE. Still, Feldman put to rest any pretentions about sharing the conference crown.
“Not being greedy or anything, but we have two games to get enough points to actually have the title outright,” Feldman said. “We don’t really want to share it with anybody. We want that all to ourselves, so that’s what we’re playing for on Thursday night.”
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