Sophie Reale saw plenty of chances in the final 20 minutes of Sunday’s game to record her first hat trick for Boston College women’s soccer.
The junior UCLA transfer has wasted no time getting comfortable as an Eagle, putting together three points in four games before the matchup versus Albany.
“What she’s done is she’s established herself as, ‘Hey, I can win games, get me the ball,’” BC head coach Chris Watkins said. “And it’s super important for a young team that kind of looks around and isn’t sure.”
With just over six minutes remaining, Reale crossed to the middle and sent a ball blazing off the crossbar and into the back of the net, capping off a six-point performance.
After scoring one more goal, BC (3–1–1) coasted to a 6–1 win over Albany (0–4–1) after a draw and a loss in its past two games.
“I was really happy with the way [Reale] came out and took control of this game today—really important for us,” Watkins said.
The Eagles’ new faces were the X factor of Sunday’s game, as all six of BC’s goals came from freshmen or transfers.
Reale began the scoring less than three minutes into the game on a similar setup as her third goal, striking the ball into the bottom-left corner.
Just four minutes later, Milla Lee attacked again with a bottom-left kick of her own—her third goal of the season. Ada Henschien Aarsaether then found the ball while camped in front of the net for her first collegiate score to make it 3–0 BC.
“We have a lot to learn—we’re still a naive team,” Waktins said. “We don’t know a lot of things, but boy, we’re exciting, and you’d bet on us in the future.”
Albany scored a goal of its own thanks to Casey Stowell’s finish off a perfect setup from Mariella Fulcher with 7:40 remaining in the first half.
But BC only used that as fuel to the fire, eager to post an emphatic win after failing to score in its past two games.
A penalty was given to BC at 7:31 into the second half, allowing Reale to net her second of the game. Her third goal came 30 minutes later and gave BC a 5–1 lead.
Freshman Emily Mara tallied her second goal of the season off an assist from Bella Douglas four minutes after Reale’s hat-trick goal.
The Eagles put together 25 shots, their most all season. But plenty of that offensive power can be attributed to the defense’s ability to stop the Great Danes from applying pressure. Albany only forced BC goalkeeper Olivia Shippee to save one shot, which was its lone score of the game, as the ball spent almost the whole game in the Great Danes’ defensive third.
“We all defend, and we defend hard,” Watkins said. “We hope to limit our opponents’ good chances, and I think for the most part we did that today.”
