Women's Soccer: By the Stats

by Marc Filippino

I’m a bit of a stat junkie.

I’m not talking A.P. Stats with bell curves, or the Chi-square test nonsense. I’m talking about sports statistics.

Stats give sports a factual and historical basis that people can examine and breakdown. It makes a sport concrete, and it gets a nerd like me keyed up…

…which is why I couldn’t pass up a statistical gem like the one the Terriers achieved against Vermont. In the last four games the Terrier have had nine different players score a goal.

In their victories against Binghamton, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont the Terriers have score 12 total goals. Four have been from senior midfielder Emily Pallotta (’10) who has turned into an offensive powerhouse.

The other eight have come from: Jessica Luscinski (’12), Megan McGoldrick (’13), Taleen Dimirdjian (’10), Tiya Gallegos (’12), Corie Halasz (’11), Shauna Kelleher (’11), Casey Brown (’10), and Farrell McClernon (’10).

If you look at these players, there is no trend. It’s not just the seniors or the juniors; it’s the underclassmen too. It’s not just the forwards and midfielders; the defenders are getting a piece of the action also.

Now pretend you’re a defender, and you need to cover the Terriers’ most dangerous offensive player. Who the heck do you cover?

This is exactly the type of sentiment that Boston University head coach Nancy Feldman wants her players to create.

“In some ways, it’s by design. We are not a team that has one single goal scoring personality,” Feldman said. “Not having a pure goal scorer holds everyone else accountable. I think we’re hard to defend because of it. Who are they going to stop?”

“It’s great to have the variety and it builds player’s confidence when they get their moment, and they know they can put it in the back of the net.”

This isn’t a recently developing trend. Last year the Terriers had ten different players score a goal. Four players had four goals or more: Halasz, McClernon, Pallotta, and the graduated Marisha Schumacher-Hodge.

Kelleher, who scored in the Terriers 4-0 victory against Vermont, says that being predictable is not something BU strives for.

“We like to mix it up. We like to switch the field. Its good that everyone can contribute, and we can get everyone scoring,” Kelleher said.

With Pallotta already at four goals, it would seem that the Terriers would have a go-to player. Feldman knows, however that Pallotta isn’t a pure goal scorer.
“She’s so determined and has such a strong will, and she just doesn’t quit,” Feldman said. “Pure goal scorer? I probably wouldn’t put that tag on her.”

One thing is clear: the Terriers are getting goals, and because of it they are winning games. If they keep scoring winning, who cares where the goals are coming from? But for a stat junkie, it’s another interesting part of the game.