{"id":50681,"date":"2025-10-28T13:07:52","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T17:07:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=50681"},"modified":"2025-10-28T13:42:44","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T17:42:44","slug":"womens-soccer-bu-raiders-to-meet-in-high-stakes-patriot-league-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2025\/10\/28\/womens-soccer-bu-raiders-to-meet-in-high-stakes-patriot-league-showdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s Soccer: BU, Raiders to Meet in High-stakes Patriot League Showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By Kaan Oguz\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Boston University Women\u2019s Soccer (9-4-3, 6-1-1 PL) will close its regular season Wednesday night with a top-of-the-table showdown against the Colgate Raiders (9-4-4, 6-1-1 PL) at Nickerson Field.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At 19 points each, both sides enter the matchup tied for first place in the Patriot League, after setting the pace across the conference throughout the season. This matchup is one of the season\u2019s most significant \u2014 a victory would secure the home-field advantage in the Patriot League Tournament, the No. 1 tournament seed on the line.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BU is entering the match in peak form, riding a six-game win streak \u2014 five of which were clean sheets. During that stretch, the Terriers outscored opponents 22-2, with Giuliana Gianino leading the offense. The senior midfielder shines in the league at a total of seven goals and 11 assists. Ranking first in assists, Gianino has already been involved in more than half the Terriers\u2019 total goals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Contributing to the dominating offense, senior midfielder Mackenzie Stickelman has added eight goal contributions \u2014 seven goals and an assist. Sophomore midfielder Olivia Avellar and senior forward Margy Porta have become consistent threats in offense.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Terriers\u2019 backline has delivered one of the conference\u2019s most disciplined defensive efforts. The Terriers have conceded just 17 goals in 16 matches, the second-fewest in the league.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Goalkeepers Bridget Carr and Susan Shobeiri have combined for a .702 save percentage with eight total clean sheets. Seven of those clean sheets came in BU\u2019s last nine games. Carr leads the tandem with six wins and a 0.57 goals-against average, while Shobeiri has posted three clean sheets across 10 starts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That defensive steadiness \u2014 paired with Gianino\u2019s excellent performance and Stickelman\u2019s goal scoring \u2014 has turned BU into one of the league\u2019s most complete teams heading into the post-season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the other side of the tuft will be Colgate, arriving in Boston with equally strong momentum as the Terriers. The Raiders are unbeaten in their last four matches and scored a total of 12 goals this month.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Midfielder Ari Bezanson ranks among the Patriot League\u2019s top three in shots on goal totaling eight goal contributions. Alongside Bezanson is forward Josie Tunney, who has recorded six goals and two assists. Forward Ana Schremp provides the creative link between lines with five assists while also scoring three goals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keeping the Raiders\u2019 net empty is goalkeeper Ella Poppinga, who has been one of the conference\u2019s most reliable shot-stoppers. With 17 starts, Poppinga has recorded four clean sheets with a .786 save percentage in the season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Between Colgate and BU, the Terriers lead the all-time series, including last season\u2019s 3-2 win in Hamilton. Since 2021, every matchup has been a close game \u2014 decided by a single goal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Wednesday, with streaming available on ESPN+.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Kaan Oguz\u00a0 Boston University Women\u2019s Soccer (9-4-3, 6-1-1 PL) will close its regular season Wednesday night with a top-of-the-table showdown against the Colgate Raiders (9-4-4, 6-1-1 PL) at Nickerson Field.\u00a0 At 19 points each, both sides enter the matchup tied for first place in the Patriot League, after setting the pace across the conference [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24167,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19,1039,1043],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50681"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50681"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50682,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50681\/revisions\/50682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}