Women’s Soccer: Terriers drop pair of matches, still winless
By: Matt Doherty
Another set of games, another set of disappointing results for the Boston University Women’s Soccer Team, who dropped two matches on a weekend road trip to Virginia Tech. Without notching a victory, the Terriers are still winless on the season sitting at 0-8.
On Friday night, BU dropped a 2-0 decision to James Madison. The Terriers were never able to overcome an early goal by the Dukes. In just the seventh minute, Duke forward Ashley Herndon put a shot past BU goalkeeper Hannah Ciolek to start the scoring.
Later in the first half, James Madison added another goal when Steffi Page finished on a cross from her teammate Sydney Braun-McLeod to make it a two goal advantage.
Despite accumulating 14 shots, BU was unable to get one by James Madison goalie Maggie Buxton who recorded 9 saves in the victory. The Terriers were outshot 15-14 and lost the corner kick battle 7-6.
On Sunday afternoon, the Terriers faced much tougher competition, and it showed as BU fell 3-0 to No.18 Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Similar to the Friday game, the opposition scored early on. This time, Hokie forward Alani Johnson headed in a cross from Megan Goudy for her fifth goal of the season to make it 1-0.
The Terriers hung with Virginia Tech though for the rest of the first half. However, with only a little over a minute remaining in the opening period, the Hokies scored a goal from Anissa Dadkhah to stretch their lead to two.
Ten minutes into the second half, Virginia Tech added on again. This time junior midfielder Madi Conyers knifed through the BU defense and launched the ball to the back of the net beating Ciolek. The goal gave the Hokies a 3-0 advantage and ended the night for Ciolek as Bridget Conway came on in relief.
BU was unable to get anything going on offense all afternoon against the stout Virginia Tech defense. Facing a nationally ranked team and an ACC powerhouse proved to be challenging for BU as the Hokies outshot them 24-7. Virginia Tech improved to 7-1 with the win while BU dropped to 0-8.
The two weekend shutouts marked the fifth and sixth game the Terriers have failed to score a goal this season and they now have just two goals in the eight games played. Albeit against stiff non-conference competition, the failure to put the ball in the back of the net has resulted in a difficult start for coach Nancy Feldman’s team.
In search of their first win of the 2016 campaign, the Terriers will return home to Nickerson Field to take on crosstown rival Northeastern on Thursday night. Following that game, BU will begin Patriot League play as they search for their fourth consecutive league title.