Boston College Athletics
Women's Soccer Opens Up vs. BU on Friday
August 20, 2015 | Women's Soccer
The Boston College women's soccer team will open up the 2015 season on Friday, August 21 at the Newton Soccer Complex against rival Boston University, The match begins at 7 p.m. and admission is free.
The Eagles and Boston University have played 19 times, with the first match taking place in 1996. BU won the match, 3-1. Boston College has a 14-5 edge in the overall series vs. the Terriers. The Eagles are 10-2-1 against the Terriers since the 2005 season, including three NCAA Tournament victories.
TEAM CAPTAINS
The team captains for the 2015 season are red-shirt junior McKenzie Meehan, senior Jana Jeffrey and senior Coco Woeltz. Meehan was a captain in 2014 but missed the season due to an injury. Jeffrey started in the midfield and played in 17 of 18 games. She had three goals last season. Woeltz started every game last season on defense for the Eagles.
NEW FACES
The Eagles have added nine new faces to the 2015 roster. The rookie class this year includes: Gabby Carreiro (M/F, Upton, Mass.); Monique Fischer (M, Norwood, Mass.); Carly Leipzig (F, Allendale, N.J.); Katie Lund (GK, Dallas, Texas); Madeline McCracken (M/D, Lynn Station, Virginia); Gabby Rouse (F, Ellicott City, Maryland) and Amber Stearns (D/M/F, San Antonio, Texas). Also joining this class are two transfer student-athletes - Lauren Berman, who played two seasons at Maryland and Shea Newman, who was a red-shirt freshman at Virginia last season. Berman is from Canton, while Newman hails from Medfield.
BACK AGAIN
Boston College does return a number of veterans after a season of battling key injuries right up the middle of the field. Junior forward Hayley Dowd returns after leading BC in scoring with 14 goals, three assists for 31 points. She finished the season with five game-winning goals. It will be interesting to see how fast Dowd will click with McKenzie Meehan, who returns after missing last season with an injury. Dowd is all power in the box, while Meehan is sneaky with her scoring touch. Combined the two have scored 48 goals with Meehan leading the way with 29 (6th on the all-time goal list), while Dowd has 19.
Versatile senior back Lauren Bernard returns. She played 18 games and had two goals and six assists. Bernard gives Coach Alison Foley options as the native of Vermont can play up front, at midfield and defense.
Junior Andrea O'Brien played in 18 games last year and had three goals, while Meghan MacDonald had two goals and one assist in 18 games. Both players can play a number of positions for the Eagles.
At midfield the Eagles return senior captain Jana Jeffrey, junior Rosie DiMartino, senior Jillian Lutz and sophomores Cami Didio. Lutz and Jeffrey saw most of the minutes in the middle of the park. DiMartino has good vision and can create for her teammates. Didio played in 13 games and will have to battle to break through this veteran core in the midfield.
Senior Madison Meehan returns after playing in just four games last season due to an inury. She will be joined in the back by sophomore Allyson Swaby, who earned a spot on the All-ACC Freshman team last season. Another sophomore defender Madison Kenny received valuable playing time last year and will help solidify the back with senior captain Coco Woeltz.
In goal, senior Alex Johnson returns along with sophomore Alexis Bryant. Johnson played in 14 games and had a GAA o 1.08. Bryant is expected to see her first collegiate action this season.
THE NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
The Eagles open up the season against BU for the seventh time in program history. The Eagles are 2-3-1 against the Terriers in season openers. After the home match against BU on August 21, the Eagles will go on a four-game road trip with games at Colgate, Stanford, Pacific and Harvard.
This will be the eighth time BC plays Stanford since the first game in 2008. The two teams have been rotating home matches along with three NCAA Tournament games. The Eagles record vs. the Cardinal is 0-5-2.
After the west coast swing, the Eagles will play Harvard for the 37th time. The two teams first played in 1977 with Harvard earning a 5-0 victory. Since joining the ACC in 2005, Boston College is 7-0-1 against the Crimson.
Prior to the start of the ACC regular season Boston College will play four home games - Columbia, St. John's, Northeastern and Providence. Two games - St. John's and Providence - renew the old Big East rivalry, while the Eagles have only played Columbia once in program history (1995).
The Eagles and Northeastern have a long history which started in 1998. BC won the first game 6-0 and leads the overall series, 10-0-1.
CORNER KICKS
BC received seven votes from the NSCA preseason poll released on August 3. The ACC has six teams in the top 25 ... Head coach Alison Foley is entering her 19th season at Boston College. She has won 235 games at BC, the most in program history ... McKenzie Meehan graduated in May of 2015 with a degree in finance. She is enrolled in the MBA program. Alex Johnson, who also graduated in May of 2015, is working on her masters in administration... Since the 1997 season, Alison Foley's first season at BC, the teams' record in season-openers is 9-7-2 ... Alums Kristie Mewis and Stephanie McCaffrey had strong seasons for the NWSL this summer. Mewis had a team-high six goals with an assist for 13 points while McCaffrey had three goals and three assists. Mewis was third in the league in minutes played while McCaffrey played in all 17 games and started 15
