As Boston College women’s soccer stepped onto the field for its Red Bandanna Game against Army on Sunday afternoon, Sydney Moore didn’t don her typical No. 27 jersey.
Instead, Moore wore No. 19 in honor of Welles Crowther, BC ’99, who sacrificed his life during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Moore was awarded the honor as a player who exemplified selflessness and service in the BC community.
Moore and the Eagles (4–1–3) fought to a 2–2 tie against West Point (2–3–3) Red Bandanna Game. The non-conference game was teams’ third all-time meeting, and BC now leads the series 2–0–1.
The Eagles’ starting lineup looked different going into Sunday’s game than it has the rest of this season. Sophomore Eva Nahas made her first collegiate start at goalie, playing all 90 minutes and finishing with two saves. Bucknell transfer Claire Mensi and freshman Emma Badger also made their first starts for BC and played the full 90 minutes
“I thought she did a really nice job,” BC head coach Jason Lowe said of Badger. “I thought [we had] some good performances. Especially with some key players out, some people stepped up.”
The Eagles dominated possession in the first half and had success moving the ball up and down the field. In the 29th minute, Sophia Lowenberg headed a corner kick by Laura Gouvin into the net to give the Eagles a 1–0 lead. It was Lowenberg’s first career goal.
After Lowenberg’s goal, the Eagles lost some of the energy they brought early on in the half. A defensive breakdown in the 37th minute gave Army an open shot on net, which it capitalized on to even the scoreboard.
The Eagles started the second half holding possession of the ball, but they struggled to keep it for the rest of the half.
Lowe attributed the loss of possession to a lack of patience on the ball, especially when transitioning from defense to offense. The Eagles were slow to get the ball out of the box on defense, creating scoring opportunities for Army.
“We have to be more patient,” Lowe said. “I saw us kind of panicking as we crossed half field, and we have to play more in the final third to give ourselves better opportunities inside the box.”
Another key issue for the Eagles was winning the ball out of the air.
“We gave them a lot of balls where they were countering with long balls on us, and we didn’t deal with their long balls very well,” Lowe said.
A goal from Ella Richards in the 62nd minute put the Eagles ahead by one with 30 minutes left in the game. The goal re-energized the Eagles for a couple of minutes, but it was not enough to hold off Army. In the 80th minute, BC slowed down and allowed Army to break through its defensive line and score to tie things up at two apiece.
“Overtime is gone now,” Lowe said, referring to a rule change made by the NCAA in April that eliminated the sudden-death overtime period. “With overtime, we had a little bit of momentum at the end, so it could have been a different result.”
