A Sweet Regular Season Ending for the Terriers

By: Marc Filippino

The Boston University women’s soccer team ended the 2009 regular season on a high note as they defeated the UMBC Retrievers, 5-0.



Five different players netted goals, including three seniors on the Terrier’s Senior Day. The Terriers bid farwell to eight seniors: forward Farrell McClernon, forward Taleen Dimirdjian, midfielder Emily Pallotta, goalie Janie Reilly, back Mikaela Hansen, back Casey Brown, midfielder Mara Osher and back Laura Schwartz.

Hansen started the first half rally with a cross to Dimirdjian from the far side of the field. Dimirdjian let the ball skim off the back of her head and passed Retriever goalie Mo Van Vlerah. The assist by Hansen is her first collegiate point.

Just four minutes later, McClernon would take a ball herself from around 20 yards out, dodging past several defenders before sneaking a shot on the ground to the bottom left corner for to make it a 2-0 game. It was McClernon's fifth goal of the year.

Finally, Pallotta locked down the first half with a shot from just inside the 18-yard box past a diving Van Vlerah to make it 3-0. Pallotta has 7 goals on the season and is now tied for 14th in Terrier history for most goals in a season. She also had seven goals during her 2007 season.

The Retrievers’ offense was not as successful. The Terriers maintained control of possession during most of the game leaving little opportunity for the Retrievers to score. UMBC had no shots during the entire game.

The Retrievers would change their goalie at the half, but the Terriers were just as successful scoring two more goals. Sophomore midfielder Brittany Heist ('12) shot from 10 yards out that went past a diving freshman Jaclyn Drummond ('13) for her second goal of the year. Finally, sophomore midfielder Jessica Luscinski ('12) netted her fifth goal of the year on a line shot from 20 yards out to make it a 5-0 game.

In the last two games, BU has found its offense, scoring 12 goals, and in the UMBC rout, the Terriers had 31 shots. BU also finished the year with 37 goals, seven more than its pre-season goal of thirty.

The Terriers will face the winner of Thursday’s match up between Albany and Stony Brook. Right now the Terriers are looking forward to facing Stony Brook for a chance at revenge.

“Our team remembers how that loss felt and we’re really motivated to get a win against them,” Pallotta said. “If we play our game and set our tempo it doesn’t matter whose on the other side.”

“It would be great to see Stony Brook again,” Heist said. “Revenge, you know? Who wants to have our undefeated record broken from the last two years?”

The Terriers lost their only in-conference game to Stony Brook on October 15th by a score of 2-1. It was the first time the Terriers were defeated by an in conference opponent since 2007.

“They’re both dangerous teams,” BU coach Nancy Feldman said. “Either way we’re going to have to play tough soccer, because there is a lot of good competition in the tournament.”