The game I went to Thursday night featured teams coached by people who really love the game.

Mike Tucker is in his 18^th season at Dayton, the same number of years Nancy Feldman has been at Boston University. With Fox Soccer Channel on hand to telecast the game, UD put on a promotion where every fan wears white. The result was a campus attendance record of 2,763.

While it’s true I saw a good number of students sneaking out at halftime, there was a very festive atmosphere at the stadium. While it was predominantly students on one side, there were a lot of families watching on the other.

Boston U is really dedicated to playing attractive soccer. The team’s movement off the ball in order to make bodies available for the pass is exceptional. Even from their own end the Terriers are dedicated to playing the ball on the ground (more on that next week).

Dayton likes to play a little too, plus they have a dynamic, hard-charging forward in Colleen Williams. She makes smart runs off the ball, has good technical speed and plays with a bit of an edge too, as a little pushing match with BU goalkeeper Andrea Green after taking a shot following a whistle for offside. I can’t tell you anything about Williams as a person except for one thing: she hates to lose.

For Boston, Taylor Krebs showed a lot of imagination and zip coming off the bench as a forward. She provides a good combination of soccer brain and athletic ability.

A couple of defenders I really liked were Dayton’s Meghan Scharer, a really smart center back with good distribution, and BU’s Mckenzie Hollenbaugh, a tough-tackling freshman who didn’t seem fazed to be marking the highly-acclaimed Williams, or anybody else the Flyers sent her way.

As for the game, UD senior midfielder Alysha Mallon had a 1^st half opener directly from a corner kick. The Terriers scored a picturesque goal in the 2^nd half as junior Emma Clark caught the goalkeeper off her line and delivered an exquisite lob to make it 1-1. Some good work in midfield from Megan McGoldrick made it possible.

Another thing to both team’s credit is that they both played to win the match. With the score tied and regulation nearing an end, neither team went into some kind of ultra-conservative mode, but kept searching for the winner.

Both teams had some reasonable chances in overtime, with a near miss from distance by Dayton’s  Nicole Waters being perhaps the best, until UD got a winner in the final minute, with Ashley Campbell heading home after Sarah Senoyuit nodded on a corner from Juliana Libertin.

UD sports information contact Krystal Warren was a great help to me in my work. Even with all the extra demands the television crew places on school staff, Krystal was able to facilitate my efforts with aplomb. While I am writing a lot about flavor (and preparing for some features on these two coaches next week), http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-articles/flyers-best-no-19-boston-u-in-double-ot_aid25052

 

Lineups

Boston University

GK: Andrea Green

D: Erin Mullen, Amanda Rumsey, McKenzie Hollenbaugh

M: Brea Hewitt, Jamie Turchi, Megan McGoldrick, Emma Clark, Jessica Morrow

F: Taylor Krebs, Madison Clumens

Subs: Clare  Pfeuler, Kylie Strom, Lily Creighton, Jenna Fisher, Ana Cuffia, Kai Miller

 

Dayton

GK: Jordin Melchert

D: Haley Keller, Allison Klinefelter, Sarah Senoyuit, Meghan Scharer

M: Colleen Williams, Alysha Mallon, Alexis Garcia, Stephanie Emery

F: Juliana Libertin, Kelsey Smigel

Subs: Katie Krejsa, Ashley Campbell, Nicole Waters, Andrea Todak, Leslie Chilton