Last season, all Boston College women’s soccer did was go 14-5-1, finish fourth in the ACC, and make its 19th NCAA Tournament in program history. The Eagles, of course, were under the watchful eye of head coach Alison Foley and led by ACC Midfielder of the Year Sam Coffey. Since their first-round exit at the hands of Hofstra, though, BC has seen Foley resign and Coffey transfer before welcoming in former Wake Forest assistant coach Jason Lowe as its new head coach.
Expectations are still high, though, as Lowe has a roster brimming with talent. Losing Coffey will sting, as will the loss of starting goaltender Alexis Bryant and key defensive back Elysa Virella, but the Eagles still have the bulk of their starting lineup intact and a strong recruiting class as well. On Wednesday afternoon, Lowe announced the 2019 schedule, one that features 11 home games and 11 matchups with teams that made last year’s NCAA Tournament.
2019 Schedule (Note: Italicization denotes ACC competition)
Aug. 22 vs. Massachusetts (Newton, Mass.) *Home Opener
→ The season opener is the first of a three-game homestand against nearby opponents. The Minutemen are coming off of an 11-6-1 campaign in which they dropped a double overtime heartbreaker to George Mason in the Atlantic 10 quarterfinals. BC hasn’t played its in-state foes since 2002, where it beat them, 1-0, but it had lost the last 12 meetings before then.
Aug. 25 vs. Massachusetts Lowell (Newton, Mass.)
Aug. 29 vs. Boston University (Newton, Mass.)
Sept. 1 at Princeton (Princeton, N.J.)
→ The first road game of the year is a doozy, as it comes against a NCAA Tournament team from last year in the Tigers. Princeton went 11-4-1 in 2018 before being blanked, 3-0, in the first round of the postseason by Texas Tech. The Tigers were tough to score on last year, ranking 26th in goals against average, as they posted 12 clean sheets.
Sept. 5 vs. Northeastern (Newton, Mass.)
Sept. 8 vs. New Hampshire (Newton, Mass.)
Sept. 12 vs. Providence (Newton, Mass.)
Sept. 15 at Mississippi State (Starkville, Miss.)
→ Another big road game follows after a three-game homestand, as the Eagles fly down to Mississippi to face a Bulldogs side that earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament as well. Mississippi State closed the year on a three-game losing streak, falling to Lipscomb in double overtime in the first round, but still enjoyed a historic season. It was the Bulldogs’ first berth in the tourney in program history, and also marked consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 1996-97.
Sept. 20 at Florida State (Tallahassee, Fla.) *ACC Opener
→ The southern swing continues with the conference opener, which comes against the defending national champions. BC handed FSU a surprising 2-1 setback in Newton at the end of September, but the Seminoles responded by losing just two of their next 16 games. FSU beat South Florida, USC, Penn State, Stanford, and North Carolina en route to the national title.
Sept. 26 vs. Miami (Newton, Mass.)
Sept. 29 vs. Louisville (Newton, Mass.)
Oct. 5 at North Carolina State (Raleigh, N.C.)
→ The Wolfpack won two games in the “big dance” last season, reaching the Sweet 16 despite registering just four total points in the five games before it. N.C. State cleared the 10-win mark for the third year in a row, an impressive stretch for the program, and boasts an array of scoring threats, anchored by Tziarra King—who finished third in the conference in goals (10) last year.
Oct. 10 at Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
Oct. 13 vs. Wake Forest (Newton, Mass.)*Senior Day
→ It’ll be a reunion for Lowe when the Demon Deacons come to town, as he was formerly their associate head coach. Lowe joined the Wake Forest staff in 2014, starting as an assistant coach before being promoted prior to the 2017 season. The Demon Deacons went 9-9-2 in his last year with them, with one of the wins a dramatic overtime victory over the Eagles.
Oct. 18 vs. North Carolina (Newton, Mass.)
→ UNC piled up 21 wins on its way to the national title game last year, but came up a goal short against FSU. The Tar Heels have been nothing short of dominant during head coach Anson Dorrance’s 37-year tenure and there’s been no signs of letting up. UNC has made the ACC Championship game in each of the last three years, winning once, and nearly came up with its nation-best 21st national title last year.
Oct. 24 at Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, Va.)
Oct. 27 at Virginia (Charlottesville, Va.)
Oct. 31 vs. Clemson (Newton, Mass.)
→ A talented senior class featuring the likes of Gaby Carreiro, Kayla Jennings, Jenna Bike, and Olivia Vaughn will play their final regular season home game of their careers on Halloween. The opponent is a tough one in Clemson, who reached the NCAA Tournament last year after a 12-win campaign. The Tigers were bounced in the first round by Ole Miss, but registered a conference tournament win over the Eagles the game prior.
Featured Image by Jess Rivilis / Heights Staff
Correction, 1:30 p.m.: A previous version of this story labeled the Oct. 31 game vs. Clemson as BC’s Senior Day. Those festivities will be instead held on Oct. 13 vs. Wake Forest.
