Charging the length of the field, Louisville women’s soccer’s Mackenzie Geigle had brought her team from defensive duress to a breakaway scoring opportunity in mere seconds. Geigle had a brilliant look on goal, too, but her strong kick was tipped up and over the Boston College crossbar, resulting in a Louisville corner kick and the momentum swinging in the Cardinals’ direction after 14 minutes of play.
That momentum was something that BC could not replicate. Seeming stale and sluggish during its Thursday night matchup, BC’s offense recorded just two shot attempts in the first half, compared to Louisville’s 12.
Fortunately for BC, the Cardinals remained scoreless, too. The Eagles’ (10–5–2, 2–4–2 Atlantic Coast) defensive efforts allowed them to muster a 0–0 draw against Louisville (7–6–4, 2–5–2).
With five minutes to go in the first half, a Cardinals offensive outbreak seemed imminent. Karsyn Cherry got her head on a Louisville corner but pushed it just wide, marking one example of frustrating corner kicks, as the Cardinals were unable to score on any of their seven corner attempts.
Louisville created many of its own problems with off-the-mark shots, but BC goalkeeper Wiebke Willebrandt also played a big role in keeping the Cardinals scoreless.
In the 42nd minute, Lauryn Contini fired a slicing shot that forced Willebrandt to make a diving sprawl. The shot ended just wide of the goal, but Willebrandt’s effort put her in position to put a glove on the ball, should it have been well-placed.
The Cardinals struck six shots within the final three minutes, but could not hit the mark on any try.
In a frenzied sequence, AG Gibson’s shot was deflected by Willebrandt, tapped forward by a BC defender in the goal box, and cleared by another Eagle stationed in the penalty box.
With BC still not in the clear, Louisville shot from the six-yard box, but into a wall of defenders. Willebrandt saved Fina Davy’s putback attempt, keeping the game knotted at 0–0 when the buzzer sounded.
Aislin Streicek nearly potted a game-shaking goal when she received a pass in the Cardinals’ penalty box and kicked BC’s best scoring chance of the night. As Streicek closed in on Louisville’s goal, she booted a good-looking shot but missed left.
Ashley Roberts followed up Streicek’s attempt with the Eagles’ lone shot on goal moments later, but the weak line drive was caught easily by Cardinals’ keeper Erynn Floyd.
