Up and down

The field hockey team blasted Vermont this afternoon, 4-1.

Out in Palo Alto, CA, the women's soccer team is currently being whooped by #9 Stanford, 3-0, with less than ten minutes remaining in the game.

Women's volleyball took two out of three matches over the weekend to open up their season.

Men's soccer heads to Providence tomorrow to take on PC at 2:00 PM.

A fine start

Tonight's football game didn't have me pounding my chest and belting out "For Boston," but it got the job done. You can never complain when you a) start the season with a win and b) pitch a shutout on defense.

Chris Crane looked to be servicable under center, and he had his moments of excellence. With the exception of one awful forced pass in the red zone that was nearly picked off, Crane made excellent decisions all day. His legs accounted for two of our scores, and he demonstrated some serious arm strength. His accuracy is questionable, but hey - it's game one. In Matt Ryan's first game, BC got thumped by Syracuse in the Worst BC Loss Ever (TM).

Four names that make me smile, which need no further explanation:
-Jeff Smith
-Mark Herzlich
-Ryan Quigley
-Billy Bennett

Seriously, if we can get kicking like that, it will make a huge difference. Our defense was outstanding last year and it had to stop opponents that consistently started at or near the 40 yard line. Giving them an extra 20 yards can only be helpful.

For all of the defense's flaws (missed tackles, a lack of speed, letting the QB get away from near-sacks one too many times), they shut out Kent State and held Eugene Jarvis to a mere 55 yards. Can't complain.

The win capped off an outstanding first week for BC's fall sports teams.

The BC women's soccer team started it off right last Friday night, downing BU 1-0 at Nickerson Field. The men's soccer team equaled their accomplishment, beating the Terriers 2-1 in Newton in my very first attended sporting event of the year.(Photos coming later.) The field hockey team started with a win over UMass, and the women's soccer team went to 2-0 with a win at Oregon State.

Not bad, eh?

On to week two!

Soccer exhibitions & the pre-season NIT

BC men's soccer had its first exhibition game on Monday, taking on Southern Connecticut in Newton. I can't find the result on the BC or SCSU site, but it doesn't really matter anyway.

This weekend, I will be in Toronto, enjoying a brief getaway. I'm excited about this, but disappointed that I will be missing the first real game of the season: women's soccer @ BU on Saturday night.

There will also be two exhibition games at the Heights this weekend: men's soccer vs. Northeastern on Friday, and field hockey vs. Connecticut on Sunday.

In other news, the preseason NIT schedule has been released. BC hosts the east regional on November 16 & 17, taking on Loyola (MD) in the opener; if BC gets past Loyola, they will face the winner of St. John's vs. Cornell.

The semifinals & finals are at MSG on November 26 & 28 - a worthwhile road trip, perhaps, although it would be hard to do in mid-week.

BC women's soccer loses to UConn, 2-1

Recap taken from uconnhuskies.com:

STORRS, Conn. (August 17, 2008) – The University of Connecticut women's soccer team beat Boston College today 2-1 at Joseph J. Morrone Stadium in an exhibition match. The Huskies scored two goals within four minutes of each other to close out the first half with a 2-0 lead. Boston College cut the lead in half 20 minutes into the second half but were unable to get any closer as the Huskies defended the Eagles second half attack.

Boston College had an opportunity to take an early lead 7:10 into the game but an offsides penalty negated what could have been their first goal. UConn's first goal came with 6:51 remaining in the first half. Elise Fugowski (Stockholm, N.J.) looped a pass over two Boston College defenders to Sarah Stanczyk (Grosse Point, Mich.) who powered a shot to the top-left corner of the goal just barely getting by the outstretched hands of BC goalie Sarah Buonomo.

Less than four minutes later, on a cross from the right from Brittany Tegeler (Baldwin, Md.), Fugowski found herself with another goal scoring opportunity. Fugowski's shot found the lower left corner of the goal to put the Huskies up 2-0 right before the half.

Boston College came out firing in the second half as they outshot the Huskies 13-2. But only one of the shots made it into the goal. Kelly Henderson took a shot on goal that hit the post drawing goalie Jessica Dulski out of place. Julia Bouchelle took advantage of the Dulski's misplacement striking the ball into an almost open net. But that was as close as BC got as UConn won the game, 2-1 in regulation.

The Huskies will begin their regular season at home Monday, August 25 against Central Connecticut with a game time start of 7:00 p.m.

BC's Olympians fall shy

BC grad Carrie Howe's USA women's sailing team came up just short of a medal on Sunday, finishing 4th in the women's yngling class. Great Britain won the gold.

Earlier in the week, Charlie Davies made his first appearance for the US soccer team and impressed, instantly adding potency to the US attack with great speed and a nose for the net. Unfortunately, his contributions were too little, too late, as the US lost to Nigeria, 2-1, knocking the Americans out of the tournament.

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The BC women's soccer team opens their season this afternoon at 1 PM with an exhibition against UConn in Storrs, CT.

The men take on Southeastern Connecticut State tomorrow afternoon at 4 PM, and since I'm a very sick person, I will probably be in attendance.