As the days get shorter and leaves fall steadily from the trees on campus, the No. 12 Boston University women’s soccer team continues practicing hard in preparation for its 10th NCAA appearance on Saturday.
Traveling from across the Charles River, Harvard University will face the newly-crowned America East Champions, the Terriers (18-2-1, 8-0-0 America East), at Nickerson Field at noon on Saturday.
This is the first time the Terriers host an NCAA women’s soccer game since the program’s beginning in 1995.
“It’s a great achievement,” said BU coach Nancy Feldman. “I’m glad we’re playing at home.”
After discovering who BU’s opponents would be in the first round of the tournament, Feldman was excited at the prospect of competing against the Crimson (12-4-1, 6-0-1 Ivy League).
“We’ve proven that we can compete against them, that we can succeed against them,” Feldman said. “You don’t really have any control over who you play.”
As far as the Terriers’ strategy going in to postseason play, BU plans to approach the tournament in the same manner as it has for the rest of the season, which has clearly worked in its favor.
“[How we’ve played] has seemed to work for us so far,” Feldman said. “The game’s not that complicated. We have a way to play to our style, to play to our strengths. We just want to keep getting better and better at what we do.”
Similar to the regular season, senior goaltender Alice Binns and Sophomore Kelly King will continue to split time in net during the NCAA Tournament.
Senior defender Lina Cords, recently named America East Defender of the Year as well as Most Outstanding Player of the Year, will most likely appear in defense, as she has for the majority of her five year career.
Other starters will likely include senior midfielder Jessica Luscinski, sophomore midfielder Kylie Storm, senior forward/ midfielder Tiya Gallegos, and senior midfielder Brittany Heist.
The Terriers hope that Luscinski, a crucial player who currently holds the most goals this season, is back to full health on Saturday. For the past few weeks, the Bedford, N.H. native has been battling a case of pneumonia, which left her able to play but unable to perform for her typical time. Still, neither illness nor the University at Albany could stop her from scoring the first goal of her last America East championship.
Following Luscinski’s lead, sophomore forward Madison Clemens also scored during Saturday’s match. Clemens has been developing into an instrumental player for the Terriers as the season has progressed.
“She has a lot of strength [and] a lot of natural ability,” Feldman said last week. “[Clemens] has a really, really terrific shot. She’s learning how to play the game at a higher level.”
Also critical to the Terriers’ success is tri-captain Brittany Heist. As a fifth-year athlete, Heist has a total of five goals on the season and continuously makes an impact in BU’s offense.
“She’s Miss Spirit. She’s a very, very gifted player. She’s a lot of fun,” Feldman said following Saturday’s triumph. “She’s finally healthy after struggling for a few years and you can just see how much she’s enjoying herself. It rubs off on everyone around her.”
When the Terriers faced off against Harvard back in September, BU blanked the Crimson 3-0 on the back of sophomore midfielder Kylie Strom, who scored two goals during the contest.
“It’s been a fun year so far. We want to do some damage in the NCAA tournament, but we know we’re going to now be meeting up with the top 64 teams in the country,” Feldman said. “It’s not going to be an easy task, but I think this team is ready. I think this is ready and believes, is confident and has done the work.”
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