Boston College Eagles
Overall Rank: #10
Conference Rank: #6 Atlantic Coast Conference
Boston College Team Page
The Boston College Eagles have been one of the most consistent performing teams in all of women’s college soccer. Last season they raced out to a fantastic, start going unbeaten in their first 11 games and carrying that initial surge all the way to their fourth consecutive Sweet 16 appearance. This season they return seven starters and are positioned to make plenty of noise on the national scene again even in the loaded ACC, which is unquestionably the best conference in women’s college soccer. The schedule will not be easy with North Carolina, Duke, Stanford and Wake Forest on the road, but their ability to defend at an elite level will allow them to thrive in their usual road heavy schedule.
2011 Record: 12-6-3, 6-4-0
2011 Postseason: NCAA
Coach: Alison Foley
Strengths:
The experience of captains Kristen Mewis and Gibby Wagner up front, along with senior Victoria Dimartino, will be key in getting the offense going for the Eagles in 2012. With the exceedingly strong defense last season Boston College did not necessarily need to be explosive on offense as they scored 37 goals in 2011. The culture of winning and consistency that has been put in place under Coach Alison Foley has carved out a nice niche for the Eagles in the ACC as being one of the more difficult teams to play, win or lose, in the conference. Their ability to be very organized in the backline usually makes them very difficult to break down for opposing attacks across the ACC and the nation.
Weaknesses:
The Eagles will have to replace the graduated Jillian Mastroianni in goal, she was a vital component to the overall defensive success for Boston College. She also set the record for the program in wins with 60, and shutouts at 43. The leading candidate to replace Mastroianni is Jessica Mickelson, a junior who saw 45 minutes of game action in 2011. The new goalkeeper coach for Boston College, Maren Rojas, is in her first season in 2012 and she has a very proven track record for developing top flight goalies like Christina Devries, when Rojas coached under Steve Swanson at Virginia. Returning All-freshman ACC Defender Casey Morrison will be counted on heavily early on to anchor the Eagles defense while Mickelson gains experience in goal.
Final Projection:
The Eagles will be thrown to the fire early with a road trip to defending national champion Stanford, site of last year’s Sweet 16 2-0 loss in Palo Alto. However, the experience of Mewis, Wagner, and DiMartino should be able to steer Boston College through the early non-conference part of schedule and allow them to build plenty of momentum heading into the conference portion of the schedule. If they get a nice answer in goal with Jessica Mickelson, Boston College should be able to weave its way into a national seed come tournament time and be a threat once again to make a deep run into the Sweet 16, Elite Eight or beyond to the College Cup in San Diego. Another key for the Eagles will be to make sure they don’t endure too many major injuries as the ACC is so tough that it can take a physical toll on a team throughout the regular season. Thus, just continuing to be sound and consistent in all phases of the game is going to be critical to what should end up being another in the long of line deep postseason runs for Coach Foley and the Boston College program in 2012.
Projected Postseason: NCAA Tournament
Returning Leaders:
Goals: Kristen Mewis, Senior, MF, 8
Assists: Kristen Mewis, Senior, MF, 6
Shots: Kristen Mewis, Senior, MF, 81
Saves: None
Madness 2012 Women’s Soccer Recruit Rankings:
#13 Lauren Bernard
#25 Emily Armstrong
#46 Jana Jeffrey
#47 McKenzie Meehan
