By Matt Ferri
Newton, MA – On Friday night, the Huskies from Northeastern took on the Boston College Eagles in the first round of the women’s NCAA soccer tournament. The Huskies had earned an automatic bid by winning the CAA tournament and BC had scored an at large selection, hailing from the powerhouse ACC. These two teams had not met this 2013 season but had met last season, BC winning that contest 2-0. Friday night’s game turned out an identical result, with the Eagles winning 2-0 once again.
BC came out strong early with a lot of good bids on the net and while maintaining a large percentage of the time of possession. Just about 30 seconds into the match the Eagles put a shot just over the net from 18 yards out. A few minutes later, a good cross was punched away by goalkeeper Paige Burnett, only to be rebounded by BC and saved again by Burnett. At 10 minutes the Eagles drew first blood, when Mackenzie Meehan scored off of a good cross from Gibby Wagner putting BC up 1-0. Later on in the first half, the Huskies had a strong attack set up by senior Hanna Terry as she sent a good pass into the right corner for Lahaina Zoller. Zoller sent a crossing pass into the box but it was unable to be controlled by Haley Sinclair. Neither team scored for the rest of the half, but the Eagles put good defensive pressure on Northeastern for the whole half keeping them from putting any shots on target.
BC started off the second half quickly, with Lauren Bernard scoring a goal unassisted in the first minute to make it 2-0. The Eagles defense continued to suffocate the Huskies offense, but in the 79th minute Northeastern was able to get a shot on net. Shayna Blackwood made a nice cut to the net and trapped a pass at the top of the 6-yard box with one defender on her. She made a nice turn and put the shot on net for what looked like a sure goal, but the shot was punched away by BC keeper Alex Johnson. Throughout the whole game, BC controlled the ball in their attacking zone for the majority of the time and didn’t let Northeastern get many opportunities, thus sealing their victory by intense defensive pressure. Boston College takes on Nebraska in second-round play next Friday night at a to be determined location.