Women’s Soccer: Terriers defeat Lehigh with late-game goal

By Abbey Chaitin

The pressure was high on Saturday at Boston University heading into the Terriers’ matchup against Lehigh, as both were coming off a number of close wins. 

The Terriers (6-6, 3-1 PL) ultimately came out on top with a 1-0 victory against the Mountain Hawks (4-5-1, 2-2 PL) thanks to a game-winning score in the 81st minute. 

Despite BU’s domination of possession through the game, the Terriers’ goal came late in the game. Their slow start in the attacking third showed in the halftime stats — they had just four shots, all of which came after the first 20 minutes of play. Out of those four shots, only two were on goal. BU had numerous chances in the 18-yard-box but struggled to create opportunities at goal. 

BU Head Coach Casey Brown attributed the Terrier domination to starting “the game with a real concerted effort to value our possession, value having the ball, and trying to wear them down with it.”

“There was a cumulative effect of us having a lot of the ball,” she said. 

Lehigh’s defense had an impressive performance – shutting down most of BU’s chances at goal. For most of the game, the Terriers found themselves surrounded by the Mountain Hawks in the final third. Lehigh goalie Maggie Ousouljoglou also made some impressive saves throughout the 90 minutes. 

The Terriers’ goal came during a period of control in the game’s final minutes. 

After knocking on Lehigh’s door for quite some time, BU was finally rewarded. After some solid play through the center of the field and an impressive one-on-one by Thompson, the graduate student hit a shot into the back of the net. 

“[They showed] resilience and sophistication in attack,” Brown said. 

Lehigh took only six shots all game and spent very little time on BU’s half. 

The Mountain Hawks’ most threatening chance came in the 78th minute of the game from forward Sophia Lis. She struck it just shy of the right-side post. While there wasn’t a significant disparity in shots on goal, Lehigh with two and BU with five, Lehigh’s offense struggled to get into the final third. Even after BU’s goal, Lehigh lacked urgency. 

The Terriers will next take the field against their cross-river neighbors at Harvard on Monday at 4 p.m.