Women's Soccer Loses a Heartbreaker to UConn

by Tristan Hobbes

Brittany Taylor’s 30-yard blast in the 108th minute found the right upper-90 and gave the University of Connecticut Huskies a thrilling 1-0 double overtime victory over the Boston University Terriers in the first round of NCAA Tournament Friday night at the Newton Soccer Fields on the campus of Boston College.

UConn moves on to play Boston College, a 1-0 winner over Harvard earlier Friday, for the chance to move on to the round of 16. BU’s season comes to a close with a final record of 14-6-2, with two of the losses coming against the Huskies. UConn edged the Terriers 1-0 in overtime on September 11th in the UConn Classic. All six meetings between the schools have been 1-0 decisions, with UConn having won four of the six.

Friday was a back and forth battle between the two northeast rivals. Neither team could generate much offense as most of the game was played in the midfield. The Huskies had the best first half chance when Taylor’s shot from 25 yards out was initially stopped by senior Janie Reilly (’10). Reilly dove to her left to make the first save but could not control it and the ball rolled towards the corner of the goal. Reilly ('10) hopped up quickly and was able to dive on top of it just as it was about to cross the line.

“She put a spin on that ball that I was not planning for,” Reilly said afterwards. “I got up fast enough because that was going in.”

BU had two of their own chances in the second half, both off the foot of senior Farrell McClernon (’10). In the 50th minute McClernon’s ('10) shot from 12 yards out rolled just by the far right post and minutes later her point blank shot was turned away by UConn’s freshman goalie Ally Mancino. Mancino was making her NCAA tournament debut and was making only her second start of the year.

In the overtimes, neither team controlled the run of the game but the momentum appeared to swing in the Huskies way after two consecutive corners. The first attempt was headed out of bounds by the Terriers but the second resulted in a scrum in front. Elise Fugowski wound up with the ball but senior Mara Osher (’10) was able to block her shot out of bounds. The pressure finally paid off for the Huskies as Taylor picked the ball up at midfield. Taylor, a two-time Big East Defender of the Year, dribbled untouched for 20 yards before firing her game-winner to the upper 90.

In the final game of her career, Reilly made 7 saves in goal. McClernon led the Terriers with 6 shots, 3 on goal as BU outshot the Huskies 18-12 but were unable to find the back of the net.

“It was a great season,” head coach Nancy Feldman said.. “It was an absolutely great season and we are sorry to see it end.”