Following Boston College women’s soccer’s four-goal, season-opening victory over James Madison, the Eagles’ offense came to a screeching halt. BC managed just one goal over the course of its next two matches—both of which it lost.
But that’s not to say that head coach Alison Foley’s group wasn’t getting looks on goal. In Friday’s shutout defeat to Vanderbilt, the Eagles outshot the Commodores 22-5 and fielded 13 of the game’s 14 corner kicks. The opportunities were there, but the execution was not.
That changed on Sunday.
Despite only recording six shots on goal—seven less than they logged against Vanderbilt—BC found the back of the net five times, en route to a 5-1 victory over Colgate.
The scoring spree began in the 15th minute with freshman Sam Coffey. Junior transfer Elysa Virella connected with Coffey, who then took the ball inside of the 18. From about eight yards out, the Sleepy Hollow, N.Y. native dribbled one into the bottom right corner of the net for her first goal of her young collegiate career.
Soon after, Coffey returned the favor. The freshman located Lauren Berman just outside of the box. Berman received the feed and ripped a shot into the same spot that Coffey hit, just minutes earlier.
BC held onto its two-goal lead for the remainder of the first half. But after the break, it only took the Eagles a minute and 15 seconds to add to their scoring total.
Coffey teed up a corner kick, less than a minute into the second period. Eventually, Olivia Vaughn came up with the ball and found freshman Gianna Mitchell. The defender cashed in, scoring her first goal of 2017 and BC’s third of the match. In the 55th minute, Jenna Bike put the game out of reach. Berman led a streaking Bike into the box, who after creating space, sent one past the Raiders goalkeeper.
But 48 seconds later, Colgate finally got on the board. Mara Cosentino corralled a Eliza Doll pass and put one past Alexis Bryant. Still, BC was up three. And it wouldn’t be long till the Eagles’ lead returned to four.
In the 63rd minute, Coffey lined up for another corner. For the second time this season, a feed from the flag resulted in a BC goal. Erin Convery headed the ball into the net, recording her first goal of her college career.
Neither team scored during the final portion of play. Foley took advantage of the garbage time by giving her reserves some minutes. Even backup goalkeeper Meredith Thompson took the pitch for the last six minutes of the game.
The match marked the first time that the Eagles scored five goals since last September, when they defeated Pacific in another non-conference bout. It’s also the second time this August that at least four different BC players have scored in one game—the Eagles first accomplished the feat in a preseason friendly at Connecticut.
Earlier this week, Foley said that her team won’t rely on just one or two individuals to carry the scoring load this season. Sunday was evidence of that.
Featured Image by Amelie Trieu / Heights Editor
