BU Women Win America East

Terriers Capture Back-to-Back League Titles

November 9, 2008

BOSTON – The Boston University women’s soccer team broke a scoreless deadlock with a pair of goals in the span of two minutes midway through the second half and held off a late charge from Stony Brook to capture the America East Championship Saturday afternoon at Nickerson Field.

The Terriers, who have won back-to-back titles and six of the last nine overall, earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. It will be their fourth straight trip to the tournament and seventh in nine years.

Farrell McClernon

BU's Farrell McClernon notched two assists in the Terriers' win. (BU Athletics)

Boston University (15-5-1) got goals from Corie Halasz and Mara Osher and two assists from Farrell McClernon. Stony Brook (11-8-0) cut the deficit in half, but weren’t able to equalize.

Stony Brook goalkeeper Marisa Viola, the America East Goalkeeper of the Year, made six of her 11 saves in the first half. The Terriers' best chance came when All-Rookie choice Jessica Luscinski crossed the ball into the box and McClernon got off a shot, but Viola made the save.

In the opening minutes of the second half, BU’s Marisha Schumacher Hodge served the ball from the left side to Defender of the Year Casey Brown, whose shot just cleared the crossbar. The Terriers finally broke through with 18:37 left in regulation. Halasz took a pass from McClernon, weaved into the box from 30 yards out and beat Viola to the short side, striking the ball off the inside of the post and into the net.

Boston U. added to its lead just 1:50 later. Halasz sent the ball into the box from the left and found McClernon, who could not get off a shot and instead passed it brilliantly behind her to first-team all-conference selection Osher, who was all alone inside the box and blasted the ball into the top left-hand corner of the net.

The Seawolves continued to battle and were able to cut the deficit to 2-1 with 2:09 remaining. Freshman Dominique Adamo scored her first career goal, taking a cross from Holly Razzaghi and burying the ball in the top right-hand corner from 20 yards out.

The win also gave Terrier coach Nancy Feldman her sixth America East championship, which surpassed former Hartford coach Austin Daniels as the all-time leader in league history.

Schumacher-Hodge, the Midfielder and Fans' Choice Player of the Year as well as a first-team all-conference choice, added to her hardware, garnering Most Outstanding Player honors. However, the midfielder left midway through the second half with an injury.

Boston University will learn their destination for their NCAA first-round contest on Monday at approximately 8 p.m. on ESPNews.

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