BU women ruling America East

Sunday's win over Stony Brook clinches share of league regular season title

October 20, 2008

Junior Mara Osher netted the game-winning goal and senior Marisha Schumacher-Hodge added an insurance tally, as the Boston University women’s soccer team shut out Stony Brook, 2-0, on Sunday afternoon at Nickerson Field.

With the victory, the Terriers (11-5-1, 6-0 America East) clinched at least a share of the America East regular season title and the top seed in the conference tournament.

The game-winner came in the 61st minute of the match, when BU drew its second penalty kick of the game after a foul in the box. Stony Brook (8-7, 4-2 AE) goalkeeper Marisa Viola made the initial save on the PK and junior Emily Pallotta picked up the rebound, but her shot was also stopped by Viola. Osher then came sprinting into the six-yard box and rocketed a shot into the back of the net for her second tally of the season.

Just over two minutes later, Schumacher-Hodge made it a two-goal advantage when she collected a rebound off her own shot. Junior Farrell McClernon earned the assist on the play.

BU out-shot Stony Brook, 25-6, and placed 16 strikes on frame. In addition, the Terriers held a 7-4 advantage in corner kick opportunities. Viola made 14 saves in net for the Seawolves, including two penalty kick stops.

After 15 minutes of action in the midfield to start the game, BU started to press more on the offensive front and test Viola. Sophomore Corie Halasz sent a low shot from the corner that was saved on the goal line by an SBU defender and senior Jennifer Herman nearly buried one in the back of the net, but a diving Viola got a piece of the ball for the stop.

With nine minutes remaining in the first half, BU drew a penalty kick and on the ensuing shot Viola came up with a clutch save to maintain the shutout.

With four minutes left in the stanza, SBU’s Colleen McKenna entered the attacking third on a breakaway, but sophomore Janie Reilly came aggressively off her line to cut it off and prevented the Seawolves from getting a shot off.

In the second half, BU picked up where it left off, attacking the Seawolves’ defense and recording four shots in the first 10 minutes. Down two goals in the final 20 minutes, Stony Brook started to go forward more aggressively, but the BU backline held SBU to just four shots.

BU will hit the road for the final two regular-season games of the season when it takes on UMBC (Thursday) and Hartford (Sunday) to close out the America East slate.

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