Sports > October 2, 2008

By Joe Maugeri | Staff writer

The women’s soccer team opened ACC play with a 2-0 win against Maryland on Sept. 26 at Spry Stadium, but they could not meet the same success on Sept. 28 when they fell to the Eagles of Boston College 1-0, also at home.

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The first weekend of ACC play for the Deacons started strong as they dominated the Terrapins on both offense and defense.

The Deacon offense took 14 shots while the defense was able to hold the Terrapins to only five shots. Only one of Maryland’s shots was on target while the Deacons put six of their shots on target.

The women’s soccer team opened the scoring in the 32nd minute when junior forward Sarah Winslow got the ball in the center of the field and drove her shot into the net from just outside of the penalty area.

The Deacons extended their lead in the 87th minute of play when junior forward Allie Sadow took a pass from junior Jill Hutchinson six yards out from the goal and beat the Terrapin keeper to make the score 2-0.

Sadow’s goal extended her season total to six goals, which leads the team.

Junior keeper Laura Morse contributed one save while notching her fourth shutout of the year in the win over the Terrapins. This win improved the women’s soccer team’s record to 8-1-0 (1-0-0 ACC).

In the same weekend, the Deacon women’s soccer team hosted the No. 14-ranked Boston College Eagles and the No. 12-ranked Deacons fell by a score of 1-0.

The loss to Boston College drops the women’s soccer team to a record of 8-2-0 on the year and 1-1-0 in ACC play.

The game’s lone score came on a 49th minute strike from Boston College forward Amy Caldwell.

A costly turnover in the penalty area created the shot for Caldwell, who hammered her strike into the right side of the net as a heavy rain fell over Spry Soccer Stadium.

The Boston College goal, allowed by Morse, was the first goal conceded by the junior keeper this season and snapped her 491:56 goaless streak.

Morse also made a season high six saves in the loss.

The Deacons, though, had several scoring opportunities. Four minutes after the Boston College goal, Sadow took a shot from 16 yards out, but her shot was blocked by a diving save from Boston College keeper Jillian Mastroianni.

Both the Deacons and the Eagles had their chances to score in the first half of play.

Early in the game, Morse blocked a hard hit strike from deep in the penalty area.

With a little over 10 minutes left in the first half, Sadow sent a cross into the penalty box and the ball was deflected by the Eagles keeper. The ball was free, but no Deacon was able to get to it before it was cleared out of the box by the Boston College defense.

A few minutes later, the Deacons were presented with another scoring opportunity when a cross from Hutchinson found sophomore midfielder Bianca D’Agostino deep in Boston College territory, leaving D’Agostino one-on-one with the keeper.

However, D’Agostino was unable to get a shot on goal off in time as Boston College defenders flocked to the scene.

The women’s soccer team continued to strike at goal throughout the match, but the Boston College defense was able to preserve their shutout and turn it into a victory.

The Deacons were out shot by the Eagles 10-8 in the loss.

Of their eight shots, the Deacons were only able to put two of them on target while the Boston College Eagles were able to put seven of their 10 shots on target.

The Deacons also trailed the Eagles in corner kicks 7-3.

The women’s soccer team will look to rebound against the No. 3-ranked Tar Heels of UNC-Chapel Hill Oct. 5 at Spry Stadium.

The Tar Heels recently blanked Maryland 5-0 behind a hat trick from a freshman to move to 9-1-1 overall on the year.

The Maryland game was the team’s first ACC match.