Eagles Earn NCAA Tournament Berth
November 09, 2015 | Women's Soccer
NCAA Tournament Bracket
The Boston College women's soccer team earned a bid to the 2015 NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament, which was announced on Monday afternoon. The Eagles (11-6-2, 5-3-2 ACC) will travel to New Jersey to play Princeton (13-3-1, 6-0-1) on Saturday, Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. The winner of the game will play the winner of Southern Cal and Cal State Fullerton the weekend of Nov. 20-22.
This is the 18th overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament for the women's soccer program. Boston College has been to nine Sweet 16's, three Elite Eight's and of course the 2010 College Cup.
"We are excited to be selected to the NCAA Tournament,'' said BC Head Coach Alison Foley, who is in her 19th season at The Heights. "We feel we are playing our best soccer at the moment and ready for the challenge of post-season.''
Boston College is one of eight Atlantic Coast Conference teams that earned bids to the tournament. Virginia (20-1-0), North Carolina (17-4-0), Virginia Tech (16-4-2) and Florida State (18-1-3) are all No. 1 seeds in the tournament. The other four ACC teams in the tournament are BC, Notre Dame (11-7-1), Duke (8-8-4) and Wake Forest (10-6-2).
The Eagles have an RPI of 34. BC placed seventh in the ACC and went 2-1-1 in the final four games. Three of those games went into overtime with junior McKenzie Meehan scoring two game-winning goals and one game-tying goal. In the 2-2 overtime tie against then No. 3 ranked Florida State, BC became the only ACC team to score two goals against the Seminoles in the regular season.
BC is led by two of the most dynamic scorers in the country – McKenzie Meehan and Hayley Dowd. Meehan is in the midst of a record-breaking season with 16 goals, three assists for 35 points. She is now the all-time leading scorer in program history with 45 goals and second in points scored with 95 career points. A native of Rhode Island, Meehan is also one goal from tying the game-winning goal record of 16, currently held by Brooke Knowlton '10. An All-ACC first team selection, Meehan is currently sixth in the country in goals scored and 15th in points scored.
Dowd, an All-ACC second team selection, is just as dangerous. The junior from Peabody has 12 goals and two assists for 26 points. She is third in the ACC in goals scored (12) and fifth in points (26). in the ACC. Dowd has scored four game-winning goals and is now ninth in the program in goals scored with 26.
The Eagles currently start five first-year players – goalkeeper Alexis Bryant, midfielders Gaby Carreiro, Lauren Berman, Amber Stearns and Shea Newman. Bryant, who has started every ACC match, is the starting keeper and has a GAA of 1.62 with a 6-5-2 record. Carreiro, Berman, Stearns and Newman make up the Eagles midfield. Careirro has two goals and a team-high five assists, while Berman has two goals and four assists. Newman has four assists.
The defense is buoyed by sophomore Allyson Swaby. She missed a few games with an injury but returned for the run at the end of the season. Madison Meehan, a senior, is the lone defender to have started every game this season. Senior Coco Woeltz and sophomore Madison Kenny are the two outside backs.
Princeton won an automatic bid having won the Ivy League Championship. The Tigers were ranked No. 24 in last week's NSCAA poll, which is released every Tuesday. Princeton's RPI is at 31.
BC and Princeton had two common opponents – Harvard and Columbia. The Eagles defeated Harvard, 2-1 on Sept. 2 and Columbia, 2-0, on Sept. 4. The Tigers defeated Harvard, 2-1, on October 24 and Columbia, 3-1, on October 17. Princeton's offense is led by junior Tyler Lussi with 13 goals and five assists for 31 points and rookie Mimi Asom with 10 goals and four assists for 24 points. Junior Hannah Winner is the keeper and has an 11-3-1 record with a GAA of 1.05.
