Women’s Soccer: Terriers fall to Boston College at Nickerson Field

By Bailey Scott

Boston University women’s soccer (2-4) took on crosstown rival Boston College (4-1-1) on a sweltering Sunday afternoon in front of a large Terrier Tailgate home crowd. Though both teams played an efficient all-around game and created many chances on both sides of the field, the Eagles proved to be superior as they beat the Terriers 3-1.

The Eagles immediately took control from the start of the game, creating multiple chances in the first five minutes. But the Terriers’ defense held strong and they were able to create a chance of their own — a shot by leading scorer Abigail McNulty from a breakaway, which went wide. 

The shot, however, seemed to shake up the Eagles’ defense, and BU saw its opportunity to strike. Senior captain Amy Thompson scored the first goal of the game — and her first of the season — off of an assist from McNulty, which went right past Eagles goalie Wiebke Willebrandt and allowed Thompson to slot the ball into the bottom left corner. 

With the momentum now shifted in the Terriers’ favor, they continued to press the Eagles’ defense, drawing several fouls and a yellow card on BC junior Laura Gouvin in the process. On the defensive side, the Terriers continued to shut down the prolific Eagles offense. Senior goalie Gretchen Bennett was a key part, making several impressive saves to maintain the slim Terrier lead. 

The Terriers started off the second half the same way they did the first, allowing several dangerous chances by BC. Then, the game began to even out again, with saves by both goalies coming less than a minute apart.

The Eagles finally evened the game on a penalty kick, which was scored by junior Emily Sapienza for her fourth of the season, making the score 1-1.

“We kept [Boston College] in the game,” Terrier head coach Casey Brown said in a postgame interview. “I thought we could have punished them by being a little bit more clinical.” 

The Terriers immediately launched a counterattack, but junior midfielder Lily Matthews’ equalizing shot was saved by Willebrandt. The Terriers continued to put pressure on the Eagles’ defense but were unable to put the ball in the net.

The Eagles’ offense, which has scored 11 goals this season, came alive soon thereafter, scoring two goals in less than five minutes. The first came on an assist by sophomore Ella Richards to senior Sam Smith, who put the ball top middle to make the score 1-2. The second goal was the result of a cross by Sapienza in the right corner to Richards, who one-timed the ball into the right side of the goal to increase the Eagles’ lead to 1-3. 

The Terriers tried to get back in the game after that and created several more chances, but the damage was done. In a very physical game that saw both teams draw a multitude of fouls, the Eagles emerged victorious.

“When you keep a good team [like Boston College] in the game, they punish you,” Brown said. “But in terms of the overall performance, attitude, organization and completeness, I couldn’t be prouder of the team’s effort and that’s what we’re trying to build on.”

The Terriers will travel to the University of Massachusetts for their next game, which will take place on Thursday at 4 p.m.