UMass Awaits BC For Home Opener

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – The Boston College women's soccer team will host the UMass Minutewomen in the 2021 home opener on Sunday afternoon in a 1 p.m. match at the Newton Campus Soccer Field.

Game 2 | Boston College vs UMass
Sunday, Aug. 22, 2021 | 1:00 p.m.
Newton Campus Soccer Field | Newton, Mass.

A WIN OVER UMASS WOULD . . .
• Move Boston College to 2-0-0 on the year.
• Bump BC's record in the all-time series with UMass to 3-13-1 and give the Eagles three consecutive wins over the Minutewomen.
• Move BC to 3-2-0 in the last five home openers.

ABOUT UMASS
• UMass, tabbed to finish fifth in the Atlantic 10 preseason poll, went 6-5-1 with a 5-2-1 conference record during its 2021 spring slate.
• The team returns three players that started all 12 of those game last season in Ella Curry, Serena Ahmed and Fiona Kane.
• The Minutewomen opened up this season on Thursday night against No. 10 Penn State ... UMass found the back of the net first before the Nittany Lions scored three straight goals for a 3-1 win in Pennsylvania.
• Jason Dowiak is in his fourth year as head coach of the Minutewomen.

SERIES HISTORY VS UMASS
• Boston College and UMass have met 16 times, with the Minutewomen holding an edge of 2-13-1 in the all-time series.
• The teams met in their respective season-openers on Aug. 22, 2019, marking the first time the teams had met in 17 years.
• That 2-1 BC win to open up 2019 marked the first game and first career victory for head coach Jason Lowe ... Samantha Agresti scored in the fifth minute and then Sam Smith notched the game-winner in the 89th.
• In the first meeting between the two teams in 1981, the squads battled to a 2-2 tie ... a 1982 clash resulted in a 1-1 tie before the Minutewomen then took the next 13 meetings before BC's win in 2002.
• The Eagles and Minutewomen have clashed in at least six different locations ... BC has traveled to UMass on nine occasions, hosted three home games and then met UMass in three confirmed neutral site locations (with unconfirmed sites in 1981 and 1987 matchups).

LAST TIME OUT
• Boston College opened up the 2021 season with a 5-0 win at Iona on Thursday.
• Linda Boama scored twice for BC, notching the first and second goals of her career with the brace ... Ella Richards and Sam Smith also found the back of the net while the team was credited with a team goal off an Iona defender.
• Wiebke Willebrandt made four saves in her first collegiate appearance for her first career shutout.
• In addition to Willebrandt, Éabha O'Mahony also made her first collegiate start and appearance while Andi Barth, Ella Richards, Sarai Costello, Jessica Carlton and Taliyah Walker all made their collegiate debuts off the bench.
• Graduate students Haley Thomas and Abby McNamara made their BC debuts.

2021 CAPTAINS
• The Eagles are led by Jenna Bike, Mia Karras and Michela Agresti in 2021.
• This is the second consecutive year that Bike and Karras are captaining the Eagles while Agresti is a first-time captain.
• In 2021, Bike started all 14 contests for the Eagles in her return to the pitch from injury ... the graduate student finished second on the team in scoring with 10 points on four goals and two assists.
• Karras, a graduate student, played and started all 14 of BC's contests last season.
• Agresti has started all 32 game that BC has played in her first two seasons on the Heights ... the defender has played at least 90 minutes in 31 of 32 games.

NEW FACES
• Boston College's roster features nine players who weren't on the 2020 roster, with two new graduate transfers and seven new freshmen.
• Haley Thomas (Weber State) and Abby McNamara (Wake Forest) both come to the Heights with four years of collegiate experience.
• Meanwhile Wiebke Willebrandt and Taliyah Walker were on the 2020-21 roster, they did not suit up for the Eagles.
• Additionally, the Eagles have also welcomed a new associate head coach in Taylor Schram and a Director of Soccer Analytics in Kylie Spencer.

INTERNATIONAL APPEAL
• The Eagles are a diverse group, having five different countries and 14 different states represented on the team roster of 28.
• The most represented state for BC is Massachusetts, which is called home by six players ... five Eagles hail from California ... 12 states can claim one Eagle each.
• Canada has two players represented while Iceland, Ireland and Germany each have one representative on the roster ... 23 players are from the United States.

ACTIVE SCORING LEADERS
• Jenna Bike is BC's active scoring leader with 39 points on 14 goals and 11 assists.
• Sam Smith is the second-highest active scorer with 34 points on 14 goals and six assists.

SISTER ACT
• The Eagles have two sets of sisters on the roster this season.
• Samantha and Michela Agresti are in their third season together as Eagles.
• Sophomore Emma Goggins is joined this season by her younger sister, Kate Goggins.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Michela Agresti

Samantha Agresti

Andi Barth

Jenna Bike

Linda Boama

Jessica Carlton

Sarai Costello

Emma Goggins

Kate Goggins

Mia Karras

Abby McNamara

Ella Richards

Sam Smith

Haley Thomas

Taliyah Walker

Wiebke Willebrandt