Women’s Soccer: Terriers dominate Lafayette at home
By Cameron Meyer
Boston University (6-4-3) (3-1-1 PL) took down Lafayette (6-5-1) (2-3-0) at home 4-2 in what was a thoroughly dominant performance. With the win, the Terriers extended their unbeaten streak to four games.
“I thought it was overall a very positive day,” BU Head Coach Casey Brown said. “Anytime you can win at home and get three points is huge.”
From the first to the final whistle, the Terriers were on the front foot. The Leopards could never find a way to counter BU’s relentless press and attacking talent. The fruits of such bore early in the first half.
The Terriers took the lead in the 11th minute off of a set piece on the edge of the box. Senior midfielder Lily Matthews whipped in the ball and sophomore midfielder Natalie Godoy got her head to the service, tucking the ball into the bottom right corner for her fourth goal of the season.
BU found a second later in the half after Lafayette made a critical mistake playing out from the back. Defender Abby Giordano passed the ball into the middle of the park where BU star midfielder Giuliana Gianino picked it up. She drove towards goal with no contest and she slotted the ball past the keeper for her fifth goal of the year and her eleventh point.
Coming into the game, the Terriers had only scored three goals in the first half this year. Today, they almost doubled that tally and they outshot their opponent 10-2.
“We’ve had some late thrillers, so it’s nice when you can separate yourself from the game and [score goals] earlier,” Brown said. “I think we’ve been creating a lot of dangerous opportunities in the final third and today is another example of that. But to do it earlier, it starts to put you in control of the game earlier.”
In the second half, BU continued to put petal to the metal. The Terriers continued to force Lafayette into mistakes with their press and hit out on the counter attack. Five minutes after the break, junior forward Morgan Fagan bullied her way past a Lafayette defender and played a pin-point through ball to a streaking Abby McNulty. The forward had nothing but green artificial grass in front of her and she finished the attacking move in style—placing the ball into the bottom right corner.
Because of an early-season injury, this match was only McNulty’s fourth game of the season. However, the senior has come back and had a serious positive impact on her team’s attacking output—this goal being her third of the year.
“I’m feeling good,” McNulty said. “It’s great to be on the field with the team and I’m just excited for what’s to come with everybody.”
The Terriers continued to hound the Leopards’ net—shots by Godoy, Gianino, and Matthews all came close to increasing BU’s cushion, but none of them found the back of the net. However, the Leopards were able to cut the Terrier lead to two off of a 66th minute free kick.
Lafayette forward Rory Shauder’s shot outside the box deflected off BU’s wall and into the box. The Terriers attempted to clear, but their efforts deflected the ball to the foot of defender Katrina Santelli, who made no mistake with her shot—placing the ball past the hands of goalkeeper Celia Braun.
Despite the lost clean sheet, the Terriers continued to push on. They continued to pepper the Lafayette goal, as they let nine shots loose in the second half, and they finally found their fourth thanks to an incredible individual effort by sophomore midfielder Mackenzie Stickelman.
In the 76th minute, Stickelman was able to evade multiple defenders thanks to some touch-tight dribbling. Once she got a yard of space on top of the box, she powered a shot at goal which rifled past Lindsay Dewar in net for her third of the year.
“To have four different goalscorers is awesome,” Brown said. “I think the girls know that they’re ready when their name is called and you can see the quality of depth we have.”
With time almost set to expire, the Leopards got a consolation goal from the penalty spot. Shauder placed the ball past Braun for her third of the year. However, the goal was too little too late.
The Terriers will look to extend their unbeaten streak to five on Wednesday at 6 p.m., where they’ll take on Holy Cross at home.