Women’s Soccer: Terriers Use Late Comeback to Defeat Navy, Advance to PL Title Game
By: Matt Doherty
With ten minutes remaining in Friday’s semifinal matchup between the fifth-seeded Navy Midshipmen and the second-seeded Boston University, the Terriers were faced with the brink of elimination.
Trailing 1-0 following a Midshipmen goal by sophomore forward Ash Fairow in the 65th minutes, BU’s season was slowly dwindling down.
However, the Terriers used two goals in a 90 second span to take control of the match and pull out a come from behind victory to advance to Sunday’s Patriot League Championship Game in Lewisburg, Penn.
The first half of Friday’s PL Semifinal game between Navy and BU was a stalemate. Neither team was able to create many opportunities in the opening frame. Despite the physical play, both teams went into halftime deadlocked at zero.
The Terriers came out controlling the ball in the second half in their zone. BU had a chance to break the tie early in the second half but consecutive headers by Erica Kosienski and Dorrie Varley-Barrett were saved by Navy goalkeeper Dayton Wetherby.
In the 65th minute, the Mids made their move. Sophomore Ash Fairow gathered a ball and dribbled past the BU defense. With Rachel Blauner by her side, Fairow took a left-footed shot that sailed over the head of goalie Hannah Ciolek and into the top left corner of the net. It was the first goal Navy scored against BU in over 500 game minutes.
Just like that, the Mids took a 1-0 lead and the Terriers were 25 minutes away from elimination.
BU desperately tried to find the equalizer in the ensuing minutes.
With just ten minutes to go in the match, BU finally struck.
McKenna Doyle dashed down the right side of the field. The sophomore then made a move into the box using her left foot, and sent a shot past Wetherby to tie the game at one apiece.
90 seconds later, the Terriers completed their improbable comeback. Jesse Shreck sent a set piece near the top of the Midshipmen box. After the ball went off a few heads, it trickled behind to Julianna Chen. Chen gathered the ball and slipped a shot past the sliding Wetherby to give BU a 2-1 advantage with just eight minutes left.
The Terriers held off a late Midshipmen flurry to secure the victory.
BU advanced and will play top-seeded Bucknell in the Patriot League Championship on Sunday.
In a rematch of last years title game, the Terriers will go for their fourth consecutive PL Title Crown and trip to the NCAA Tournament, thanks to their stunning, comeback win over Navy.