Women’s Soccer: Terriers launch comeback to secure 2-2 draw but lose control of their destiny in final regular season away game

On a beautiful Saturday for soccer, top-of-the-league Boston University (4-7-6, 4-0-4 PL), took on second bottom of the league American (6-5-3, 2-4-2 PL) in the Terrier’s final road game and penultimate game of the season overall.

With the game holding massive playoff and program implications, the Maryland SoccerPlex quickly became a hotbed for a clash. For American, this game was as do or die as it comes, as anything but a win for the Eagles would leave them needing some minor miracles on the final day of Patriots League play to get a playoff spot. Factor in the history of this series with this being the 12th meeting and the Terriers holding an undefeated record of 9-0-2 in those fixtures outscoring the Eagles 26-3 in that same timespan.

For BU, this game held entirely different consequences as the lone undefeated team left, they sat atop the Patriots League table after a tight 1-0 home win to second-placed Bucknell. So after flying high from that win last week, a win here would nearly guarantee a top-2 spot in the final league table and a bye but would place the ball firmly in the Terrier’s hands to win a regular season title at home next week.

American, knowing the threat facing them with the undefeated league leaders coming into town, were quickly placed on the back foot. After only two minutes of game time, Margy Porta was able to work free for the first chance of the game. After splitting a double team with a great stop-and-go move, she fired in a low cross that Samantha Aronson could get a shot off of, which the American defense brilliantly blocked.

After trading long shots, a miscommunication in the 25th minute between American keeper Julia Kato and a defender allows the ever-dangerous Porta to have a half-chance. She somehow manages to contort her body to get a shot off the chance, and if not for an American goal-line clearance, would have given her team the early lead on the road.

With only 2 minutes left in the first half, a bit of pandemonium occurred when, after an interesting foul call from referee Moo Hackett, an American free kick was cleared. After some ping-pong play, the ball fell right to the feet of Sophomore Bella Vozar at the edge of the 6-yard box, who was able to stab it in, giving American a 1-0 lead entirely against the run of play.

That goal would break a back-to-back shutout streak for the Terriers and allow the Eagles to go into the break with the lead.

Coming out of the break, BU kept the pressure up to find an equalizer and after some promising opportunities in the first minutes of the half, a Gianino corner in the 57th minute was cleared out and a Hugrún Helgadóttir longshot went thumping against the crossbar and Samantha Aronson was only able to get a weak touch on a tough spinning ball and substitute goalie Addison Roemer falls on it, to preserve the 1-0 lead.

Some more bits of positive Terrier play followed as they showcased the discrepancy in the table, outshooting the Eagles by 10 shots and having doubled their shots on target, but none of this seemed to deter American, who looking for their first-ever win against Boston University in the 71st minute were able to double their lead, as Senior Olivia Simmons who after a beautiful touch was able to play it off to Freshman Nariah Goldman whose rocket from outside of the box was able to just curl away from the leaping Bridget Carr doubling the Eagles lead.

The 2-0 deficit didn’t seem to faze the league leaders however, who used all their experience to quickly respond as in the 76th minute, Junior Helene Tyburczy was able to receive a pass from Carr and drive through the entire American midfield before sending a perfectly weighted ball into Gianino who when given a one on one chance with the keeper was never going to miss and gave the terriers a late lifeline.

The last 10 minutes of the game became the Kat Slott show as the sophomore came on and put her print on the game, and after creating a massive chance in the 80th minute she didn’t have to wait much longer for her 2nd chance, when only two minutes later in the 82nd, after a clearance from a throw-in, the ball fell perfectly for a Mackenzie Stickelman longshot and after rattling the crossbar, Slott was in the right place at the right time to get BU the equalizer with under eight minutes to play.

When speaking about goalscorer Kat Slott, Coach Megan Burke said “She finds a way to get herself into good positions in front of goal, and capitalizes on them,” and “sometimes she has that edge that could push us over in a result, or like today get us to the tie.”

A rejuvenated BU side put the pressure on American for the final couple minutes, and in the 85th minute showcased real promise when after Morgan Fagan used a beautiful in-n-out move to freeze her defender she was able to find a little window for a shot but the American goalie would not be beat at her near post conceding a corner. Somehow from the ensuing corner, Slott finds a way to win the ball but unfortunately just puts it up in the air, ending the last major chance for the Terriers.

The final whistle then sounded with American pulling off the shocker taking a point at home from the Patriots League leaders, and BU suffering a minor slip-up in their quest to clinch a bye in the playoffs and a hopeful regular season title.

When asked about her thoughts on the result Burke put it simply “It feels really good to keep an undefeated record, and to battle back the way we did today, it just shows a lot about our character too, and so to get a point from this match, especially on the road to, we’re obviously wanting more but are happy with the result.”

Both teams will have a chance to build from this result on the final game day of the regular season as American takes on Loyola Maryland (6-5-5, 2-3-3 PL) on the road, and because of this draw, if they win, their record would be enough to sneak the team into the sixth and final spot of the patriots league playoff picture. For the Terriers, they take on Army (10-4-1, 4-2-1) at home, and due to both team’s records, the game is a defacto playoff one with the winner getting a guaranteed bye and potentially the regular season crown depending on the Bucknell result