Terriers To Host Northeastern In Conference Tourney Opener
November 1, 2004 | Women's Soccer
BOSTON, MA--The fourth-seeded Terrier women's soccer team begins defense of its America East title on Tuesday evening, Nov. 2 when it hosts fifth-seeded Northeastern University at 7:00 p.m. on Nickerson Field.
B.U., which has won the Conference title in 2000 and 2001 in addition to 2003, closed out its regular season on Saturday, Oct. 30, with a 2-1 win over UMBC. The victory improved the Terriers' overall record to 13-4-2 and 5-3-1 in the league. In the meantime, the Huskies closed out their regular season with an 11-6-2 record and a 5-3-1 mark in the conference.
The Terriers earned the higher seed over the Huskies by virtue of their shutting out Northeastern, 2-0, earlier in the season. In that game played at Nickerson Field on Oct. 17, sophomore Lauren Erwin (Orange, CT) and freshman Alexandra Riccomini (Saratoga, CA) each scored goals while junior Stephanie Dreyer (New Rochelle, NY) turned aside both shots she faced.
This will mark the first time these cross-town rivals will be meeting in post-season action. However, they know each other well having met nine times since the 1996 season, and the Terriers are 8-0-1 in those meetings.
The Terriers enter the playoffs on a high note following their win over UMBC. In the victory, sophomore Erica Lee (Oakton, VA) scored her first collegiate goal, while Erwin notched her sixth goal of the season to lead the attack and Dreyer had three saves en route to her 10th win of the season.
It was the team's 13th victory of the season, tying it for the second-highest regular-season win total in program history. The 1996 team currently holds the record with 14 victories, while the 1997 and 2000 teams also won 13 games.
In the victory at UMBC, junior Meghann Cook (Melrose, MA) picked up her team-leading 10th assist. She also leads the team in scoring with 28 points, tying her with teammate Melissa Shulman (Huntington, NY) for the fifth-highest single-season total in school history. Shulman had 28 points in 2003. Shulman finished second to Cook in points (20) this year but did lead the team in goals (8). For her career, Shulman has 61 points, which rank fifth on the all-time list, while Cook has 56 points, which rank seventh.
The Terriers are 6-1-2 at home this season with Shulman and Cook leading the way offensively. Shulman has 6-3-15, while Cook has 2-6-10 in nine games. Dreyer is 5-0-1 in goal for the Terriers and has not given up a goal in the six games, as she has stopped all 17 shots she has faced. In the meantime, Christina Reuter (Madison, WI) is 1-1-0 at Nickerson Field with a 1.24 GAA and a .778 save percentage.
The Terrier-Northeastern game is one of two quarterfinal matches set for Tuesday. The other finds sixth-seeded Hartford at third-seeded New Hampshire at 1:00 pm.
The two winners will advance to the America East finals at Binghamton University this weekend. The semifinals are set for Friday, Nov. 5, where the Terrier-Northeastern winner will take on top-seeded Binghamton at 11:00 a.m. and the New Hampshire-Hartford winner will meet second-seeded Maine at 1:30 p.m.
The two winners will play on Sunday, Nov. 7, at Binghamton at 12:00 noon. The winner of that game will receive the America East automatic bid to the NCAA Division 1 Tournament.
Tickets for Tuesday's Terrier-Northeastern match are $2.00 for students and $6.00 for adults.
