Conference Coaches Pick Terriers To Three-Peat
August 27, 2002 | Women's Soccer
The Terriers women's soccer team, winners of the last two America East regular-season and tournament titles, have been picked to win their third straight conference title in the conference coaches' pre-season poll.
B.U., which has not lost a regular-season conference game since October 17, 1999-a stretch of 25 straight games, earned six of the nine first-place votes and 78 points.
The University of Hartford, which had won five of the first six league titles before the Terriers unseeded the Hawks as the conference's premier team, finished second in the poll with three first-place votes and 75 points. Next, in order, came the University of Maine, 53 points; New Hampshire, 46; Northeastern, 45; Stony Brook, 44; Binghamton, 28; Vermont, 26; and Albany, 10.
The Terriers, who are 24-0-1 in their last 25 regular-season conference games and 29-1-1 n their last 31 games against league rivals including post-season competition, won't play their first conference game until September 17th when they host the University of Maine at 4:00 p.m. on Nickerson Field.. That will also be B.U.' s first home game as the team plays its first five games on the road.
The regular-season schedule will begin this Friday (August 30th) when the Terriers travel to Omaha, NE to play Creighton. They will stay in the Midwest through the weekend as they play at the University of Kansas on Sunday (September 1st). Then will come trips to the University of Massachusetts (September 8th) and to the Rutgers Classic on September 13th and 15th. In the first round, B.U. will take on Rutgers. These two teams last met in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last November 16th. The Scarlet Knights ended the Terriers' season with a 4-1 victory. In addition to playing Rutgers in this year's Rutgers Classic, the Terriers will play St. John's on Sunday, September 15th.
The Terriers will then return home to begin their America East schedule against Maine.
"Maine will be a very difficult team to start our conference schedule against," said Terrier head coach Nancy Feldman. "But, we have a lot of work to do before we get to the Maine game if we are to get in position in our region where we want to be.
"The America East poll shows that the conference coaches respect our program," the coach went on. "Being ranked number one is a real compliment to our returning players as well as to our freshmen.
"We have lost three key people up the middle-Megan Cross at back, Teresa Petruccelli in the middle, and Nicole Soules at forward," Feldman continued. "But, obviously the coaches feel that we have not missed a beat. It is nice to know that we are thought of so highly.
"It is going to be very difficult to win the conference title and post-season tournament this year," predicted the coach. "I think there are going to be some very good teams that won't make the (four-team) post-season tournament."
America East Women's Soccer Pre-Season Poll
| Team | Points |
1. Boston University (6) | 78 |
2. Hartford (3) | 75 |
3. Maine | 53 |
4. New Hampshire | 46 |
5. Northeastern | 45 |
| 6. Stony Brook | 44 |
| 7. Binghamton | 28 |
| 8. Vermont | 26 |
| 9. Albany | 10 |
