USC Ends Terriers' Season

BU Can't Overcome Defending National Champs

November 14, 2008

PROVO, Utah -- Buoyed by two second-half goals, the defending national champion USC women’s soccer team beat Boston University, 2-0, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Thursday.

Sophomore goalkeeper Janie Reilly played an impressive game with six stops in net and the Terriers did a good job of containing senior Olympian Amy Rodriguez and USC's point leader Ashli Sandoval, but goals from Ashley Nick and Janessa Currier gave the Trojans the two-goal victory.

Casey Brown and the Terriers lost to USC, 2-0, on Wednesday. (BU Athletics)

BU completes its season with a 15-6-1 record.

USC came out on the attack early as Amy Rodriguez and Marihelen Tomer peppered Reilly with two quick shots to start the match. Rodriguez rocketed a point-blank shot at Reilly, who came up with a diving stop, and on the ensuing rebound Tomer one-timed it from the 18-yard box high over the net.

On a counter attack in the 40th minute, USC's Brittany Kerridge fired off a shot that junior Casey Brown blocked for a team save and less than a minute later Reilly came off her line to save a Trojan corner kick. With two minutes remaining in the first stanza, USC's Stacey Strong sent a cross into the box that Reilly punched out, and Nini Loucks fired a low, hard strike into the near left corner that forced Reilly to the ground for the stop.

USC broke through five minutes into the second half, as Janessa Currier found the back of the net off a pass from Ashley Nick. Ashli Sandoval set up the goal with a free kick into the box.

USC's Amy Rodriguez nearly upped the lead to two with 26 minutes remaining, but Reilly came off her line aggressively to cut down the angle and senior Elizabeth Speck closed in on Rodriguez, forcing her to shoot it wide left of the net.

The Trojans' increased their lead by two when Ashley Nick took a pass and situated right on the penalty stripe knocked home her fourth goal of the season.

The BU senior class of Speck, Meredith Beaton, Mallory Doyle, Jennifer Herman, Shannon Mullen and Marisha Schumacher-Hodge graduate as one of the program's most successful classes in the history of the program with 53 wins and four-straight trips to the NCAA tournament - the only group to accomplish that feat in BU women's soccer history.

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