The Boston University women’s soccer team commenced its spring season at home Saturday in the annual Women’s Soccer Beanpot Tournament. With the seniors cheering from the stands, the underclassmen competed against Boston College, Northeastern University and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. The Terriers ended the day 2-1 in the round-robin tournament, in which each game consisted of two 25-minute halves.
BU’s first matchup was with BC, the team the Terriers began their fall 2008 season against (a 1-0 BC win). For the first 10 minutes of the half, the Terriers played the better game, but then the Eagles dominated play to finish out the frame. Nevertheless, it was a tie score going into the second half. On a Terrier giveaway at midfield early in the second half, the Eagles were able to take advantage of a 1-on-1 situation and score the game-winning goal.
‘What killed us that game was cross balls and corner kicks,’ BU coach Nancy Feldman said. ‘We weren’t able to penetrate and get behind them.’
Despite the 1-0 loss in their first spring game, Feldman stayed positive.
‘It was kind of nice to see us out there and see how we competed. You don’t want to lose a game, but these are training games, and we played well, which is how we are going to judge ourselves this spring.’
The Terriers’ next competition came against UMass, and BU controlled the game for the entire 50 minutes. The Terriers were able to get more than just crossing chances; they were able to penetrate up the middle and get good shots. Junior Mara Osher and redshirt freshman Cynthia Warman scored, both off assists by junior Farrell McClernon.
‘It was great to see that for 50 minutes, we didn’t let up,’ Feldman said. ‘We kept playing to our level. This was a carryover from last fall, when our level of play didn’t fluctuate, which is an important quality for a championship team.’
BU’s last match of the day came against Northeastern, a game that was more challenging for the Terriers. McClernon scored first off an assist by junior Mikaela Hansen. McClernon was able to escape off Hansen’s throw-in and get inside, where she had a great look at goal. With only five minutes left to play, the Huskies tied up the score on a Terrier miscue. But before regulation expired, Osher scored the game-winning goal off a pass from McClernon.
‘This weekend was great for us because for the last two regular seasons, we haven’t been a prolific scoring team, so for us to create four goals in basically what would be a game and a half of time is very encouraging,’ Feldman said. ‘We ended the day well. We played pretty consistently, everybody got to play and people played different positions.’
One of the players who stepped into a new role this past weekend was McClernon. The junior showed she could excel as an offensive threat, helping contribute on all four goals for the Terriers on Saturday (1 goal, 3 assists).
‘We lost [senior] Marisha [Schumacher-Hodge], who was an important part of our attack, but much of the day Saturday, Farrell actually played the role that Marisha played,’ Feldman said. ‘It is nice to be able to see someone who will be able to slide in and hit the ground running like Farrell. Marisha left quite a large hole and we won’t be able to replace her immediately, but Farrell is qualified and certainly capable to get in there to really be effective.’
‘I’m really flattered,’ McClernon said of her coach’s words. ‘Marisha was a huge part of our team’s success last year and we will definitely miss her presence. I had a lot of fun playing attacking [midfielder] this weekend and the transition was eased a lot by [sophomore] Shauna [Croghan] and [junior] Emily [Pallotta]. I’ve played with both of them for three years now. We know each others’ styles and I thought there was a definite chemistry. Plus, they were both very instructional and supportive helping me adjust to the demands of the position.’
With six seniors leaving this spring ‘-‘- including Shannon Mullen and Elizabeth Speck, the two starting backs for the past two seasons ‘-‘- the Terriers have many holes to fill. They are using this spring season to get the team ready for fall 2009 as the returning America East champions. Feldman’s goals for this spring season include primarily individual evaluation and improvement, but also to keep the sense of a winning team mentality, all of which she believes was accomplished this past weekend.
‘We lost some definite personality players, but this past weekend we had some new players step up huge,’ McClernon said. ‘The spring is an exciting time because nobody really knows what their role will be, so the energy is very high. We’re seeing some people really blossom and I’m extremely excited about our impending season. Our program has evolved every year I’ve been here and I think we have tremendous potential to excel next year.’
The Terriers will return to Nickerson on Wednesday, April 15 at 6:25 p.m. to face the University of Connecticut and the Boston Breakers, a team in the new Women’s Professional Soccer league. Feldman said the Terriers will not be competing against the Breakers’ starting squad, but rather their substitutes and developmental team.
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