Box Score | Highlights | Pallotta's Postgame Comments

BOSTON - On Sunday afternoon, the Boston University women's soccer team claimed the America East regular-season title outright with a 5-0 win over UMBC at Nickerson Field. Five different Terriers found the back of the net, and the squad will now host an America East semifinal match-up on Sunday, Nov. 1 against the winner of the Albany/Stony Brook contest.

Seniors Taleen Dimirdjian, Farrell McClernon and Emily Pallotta recorded goals and classmates Mikaela Hansen and Casey Brown tallied assists on Senior Day, while underclassmen Brittany Heist, Jessica Luscinski and Adrienne Anderson helped round out the scoring.

The Terriers' defense stood out, holding the Retrievers without a shot to earn the team's 11th shutout of the season. BU outshot UMBC, 31-0, and forced 16 shots on goal. It also held the 16-1 advantage in corner kicks.

Through the first 15 minutes of the game, the Terriers dominated the run of play, outshooting the Retrievers, 4-0, and maintaining possession for the majority of time. BU broke through in the 15th minute, when Hansen sent a perfectly-placed cross from the far left side that Dimirdjian dove for and headed home on the first touch. It was Hansen's first career point and Dimirdjian's third goal of the season.

BU upped the lead to two, three minutes later, as Heist passed it off to McClernon, who slotted it into the far left side for her sixth goal of the year. Pallotta found the back of the net for the seventh time this season, as she maneuvered through the Retrievers' defense to make it a three-goal game at 21:49.

With three minutes remaining in the first stanza, Anderson nearly got on the scoresheet as she headed a cross from sophomore Krista Minto that went just right of the net. With under a minute left, the Retrievers' defense made two goal-line saves off the Terriers' shot attempts to prevent any more goals before the end of the first half.

In the second half, Anderson headed a shot that was going straight for the upper part of the net, but Jaclyn Drummond made a spectacular save, where she pushed the ball just over the cross bar.

After assisting on a goal earlier in the game, Heist recorded BU's fourth goal, when she nailed a strike into the lower right corner of the net. Luscinski later got in on the scoring as she rocketed a shot from over 20 yards out for her fifth goal of the season. Anderson picked up the assist in the 78th minute. With less than eight minutes remaining, Minto put a hard shot on target, but Drummond again came up big with a save.

BU will host the America East semifinals next Sunday (Nov. 1) at 1 pm against the winner of the Stony Brook/Albany contest.