CALDWELL!

Amy Caldwell's 48th minute goal gives BC women's soccer a huge 1-0 win at #11 Wake.

This week, BC went on the road and tied #10 Duke and beat #11 Wake. Expect BC to move up from their spot at #15.

A win signifying nothing

Uhm... a 42-0 win over URI. Not surprising, but not very telling.

We had, I think, 27 total passing yards between Chris Crane and Dominique Davis. That's OK if we're going to keep getting production on the ground like we did today, but it shed absolutely no light on who our starting QB is. I think it'll probably be a coin flip to determine who starts next week.

At this point, I still say Crane is slightly better, as he's thrown maybe two good passes all year to Davis's 0. But still... ugh.

But how about that Montel Harris?

Gameday at BC

I don't really care who the opponent is - it's Gameday on the Heights and I'm excited.

Perhaps in an attempt to be humorous, The Heights' game preview gave URI the situational advantage for "When the Rams pass the ball." They also gave URI the edge in special teams, which is probably a stone-faced, serious truth.

URI's offensive "strength," if you can call it that, is indeed their passing game. Conventional wisdom says that tomorrow's expected monsoon will benefit URI by slowing down the game, but their rushing offense has been awful all year - 110th in 1-AA with 74.3 yards per game. If they can't handle the A-10 run defenses of the world, they won't be able to handle Brace and Raji.

The key to tomorrow is seeing how Crane and Davis perform through the air.

I say BC wins 45-0.

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BC lost to UVA in field hockey tonight, 2-1 in double overtime.

The UNH women's hockey team destroyed the Brampton Thunder, 7-0. BC plays Brampton tomorrow at 3 at the Whittemore Center.

What?

Since last I blogged, the men's soccer team followed up a thrilling win over UNC with a head-scratching loss to Brown. Then, the women's soccer team followed up their tie against mediocre Harvard with another 0-0 draw, this one on the road against #10 Duke.

It's hard to get a gauge on either soccer team right now. They're both clearly very good, but time will tell if they are national title contenders. The great thing about the ACC is that you play national title contenders week in and week out, so we should get a clearer view before too long.

The field hockey team has its ACC home opener this evening at 4 against UVA, as BC looks to bounce back from a 5-0 drubbing at the hands of Maryland on Saturday. It should be a soggy affair, as it is absolutely pouring right now in Chestnut Hill.

Women's hockey hits the ice for the first time tomorrow, facing Canadian professional team Brampton in an exhibition in Durham, NH. I'm very excited about this team, as they should be unpredictable and very fun to watch. If the freshmen live up to the hype, this could be another Frozen Four team. If not... look out below?

BC women's hockey = preseason #10

USA TODAY/USA Hockey women's poll

Sept. 23, 2008 — Preseason poll

1
Minnesota Duluth (19)

2
Wisconsin

3
Minnesota

4
New Hampshire

5
Harvard

6
Mercyhurst

7
St. Lawrence

8
Dartmouth

9
Providence

10
Boston College

My preseason college hockey poll...

Look, I hate pre-season polls. They are almost always dumb. But this year's USA Today NCAA hockey preseason rankings are particularly bad [aside from us being #1, of course].

Here's what I got:

1 Colorado College
2 Michigan
3 BC
4 Denver
5 UNH
6 North Dakota

7 Notre Dame

8 St. Cloud State

9 Princeton
10 Minnesota

11 Miami-Ohio

12 Clarkson

13 Michigan State

14 Mankato

15 Wisconsin

16 BU

Football injuries & Gerbe update

Per today's Boston Herald, BC's injury report:

-Josh Haden (ankle) and DeLeon Gause (ankle) should play next week

-Defensive end Jerry Willette (headaches) and fullback James McCluskey (quad) will be re-evaluated next week

In that story, Steve Conroy reports that Billy Bennett may get the call soon on field goals. It's about time!

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GERBE UPDATE! From the Buffalo News Sabres blog:

"September 17, 2008

This and that from rookie camp

I know the Sabres' philosophy. Put the new guy in the minors. Let him spend some time on buses, sleep at the Average Joe Hotel and eat at Pete's Diner. I pretty much agree with it. It teaches humility better than flying charter planes, staying at the Ritz Carlton and eating at Fogo de Chao. It can make the player want the NHL even more.

I just can't see how they're going to do it with Nathan Gerbe. The kid is the real thing. He's not just better than everyone else at rookie camp. He's much better than everyone else at rookie camp. When the veterans report Friday, we'll see exactly how he stacks up against NHLers. I already know. He stacks up well. I saw him for a week in April practice with the U.S. world championship team, and he fits in. He certainly will fit in with the Sabres.

We'll have to see if they agree in a couple of weeks."

Taking the pressure off

I rarely link to Heights pieces, since you can pretty easily find them yourself if you're interested. But this one is worth reading, as it hits on, in my opinion, the theme of the weekend - getting a bit of the pressure off of Chris Crane and the Eagles' offense.

It's early in the season, but it's pretty evident that BC's defense is scary good. ATLEagle boldly stated that we may be better at every position but one this year, and he very well could be right. If Crane can get back some self-confidence and simply manage games effectively, we can be a good team this year. Hopefully those second-half adjustments are the start of a turning point in Crane's BC career.

UCF game pics

Quick thoughts on a solid win

-What did Davis do while he was out there that made fans decide that it's time to pull the plug on Crane for good? Change for the sake of change is pointless. Crane is not very good, but he's the better quarterback right now. Hopefully his confidence will increase after making some good throws in the second half.

-You have to give props to JEFF SMITH for helping ignite our team in the second-half with his great kickoff return, which he very nearly took to the house. That got the ball rolling after an absolutely deflating end to the half.

-If it weren't for that one broken play with 20 seconds to go in the first half, this could have been a shutout. Bravo, defense.

-Billy Bennett needs to get a chance to kick field goals, as soon as possible. I understand that Steve-o has limited range, but when he starts shanking FGs from inside of 35 yards, that's a serious problem.

-Attention, fans: DON'T BOO YOUR OWN PLAYERS DURING A GAME. WHAT THE HELL? We're there to support our team. We can't go out there and make plays, but we need to do the only thing we can do - when they're struggling, pick them up. Before the game, after the game, during halftime - go ahead, grouse and complain all you want about the coaches, the players, or whoever. But don't boo during the game.

-The traveling UCF fans were some of the best we've had in Alumni during my three seasons as a student. Props to them for making their presence felt in a big way.

-Next week is an important day to get both Crane and Davis significant playing time before a critical game @ NC State. 

Cathartic

Thank Jesus. We needed that.

I'll have more to say later, but suffice it to say I'm very happy with the turn of events in the second half. Well done, boys.

Making a statement

The defending ACC men's soccer champions showed UNC why on Friday night. The Eagles jumped on the #5 Tar Heels early and often in a huge 4-1 win in front of a packed house in Newton. After a slow start to the season, this win shows that the Eagles (3-2-1) are very much a force to be reckoned with this year.

Alejandro Bedoya scored two absolutely beautiful goals, bolstering his status as one of the best goalscorers in the ACC. He broke the ice in the first half with a blast from way outside the box into the top left corner, then extended the lead to 2-0 with a sweet headed goal right in front of the net on a cross from the right hand side.

After BC went up 3-0, they sat back in a shell for about ten minutes, giving UNC their only real period of continued possession; they cashed in with a goal and just barely missed another over the crossbar.  But BC grabbed them by the throat, extended the lead to 4-1, and effectively ended it there.

The women's team tied Harvard 1-1 earlier in the night; I was going to go to both, but I needed a nap. I worked at the dining hall 'til 3 AM last night, had my internship this morning at 7 AM, had class at 1 + 2, the men's soccer game at 7, and a party in about fifteen minutes. Something had to give. No disrespect intended to the women's soccer team, but they were it. I'll be at their next home game against Miami in a few weeks.

Congratulations are in order.

First, to the BC volleyball team for topping Harvard, 3-1, in their home opener tonight at Power Gym. I would have been at the match if I didn't have to work.

Also winning big tonight: the field hockey team, who trounced BU 4-2 in Newton. This continues the ladies' undefeated start to the season [5-0], a record sure to be put to the test on Saturday when BC travels to Maryland to take on the Terps.

Finally, congrats to sports marketing, for putting together an incredibly badass ad for BC hockey season tickets. Matt's beloved BC hockey banner - passed on to me - makes an appearance late in the video.

I'm incredibly excited for this weekend. Friday night's BC-UNC men's soccer game is gigantic - BC's ACC home opener may well be the best home game of the year. Let's hope BC can get on track with a big win over the 'Heels.

Then, of course, there is football... raise your hand if you know what to expect. Didn't think so.

Weekend Predictions:

Friday>
BC women's soccer 3, Harvard 0
BC men's soccer 1, UNC 1

Saturday>
BC football 17, UCF 13
BC field hockey 0, Maryland 2
BC volleyball 3, Northeastern 2
BC volleyball 1, Holy Cross 3
LSU 28, Auburn 21
Wake 24, FSU 14
UNC 21, VTech 17

Sunday>
BC field hockey 3, Towson 1
Patriots 20, Dolphins 10

Maryland 1, BC 0

The BC men's soccer team fell to Maryland tonight, 1-0, in College PArk - a disappointing start to the ACC season. The Eagles are now 2-2-1.

In brighter news, two weeks 'til women's hockey and 27 days 'til men's hockey. :)

BC hammering Stony Brook at the half

I'm not sure Stony Brook ever even crossed into BC's half of the field during the 45 minutes of soccer I watched tonight at a soggy, rainy Newton Campus field. BC led 3-0 at the halfway point, and appear en route to a thorough thrashing of the Seawolves to improve to 5-1.

Stony Brook is no slouch, either; they were #13 in this week's SoccerBuzz Northeast regional rankings with a 3-2 record.

But BC made quick and easy work of them in the first half. Freshman Julia Bouchelle got it started less than ten minutes in for BC, setting the tone early

Brooke Knowlton, BC's strong 5'9'' striker, had the play of the game 25 minutes in to put BC up 2-0. She took control of the ball about 20 yards out on the right side of the box and hammered an arcing shot into the upper-left corner of the goal. Marisa Viola, SBU's outstanding keeper, had absolutely no chance to stop Knowlton's thunderbolt.

Stephanie Wirth made it a comfy 3-0 lead just before half time. Kelly Henderson floated in a cross from the right side, and With was there with a nice back-heel flick to extend the lead.

I'll post final stats once they're up at BCEagles.com; Gametracker is frozen at 45:00.

The men's team is currently trailing Maryland 1-0 at the half. Hopefully they'll turn it around.

Focusing on The Other Football

With the football team off this weekend, my focus turns to BC's soccer teams. I'll be at the women's game vs. Stony Brook tomorrow night at 7. After that, I'll try to catch the end of the BC @ Maryland men's game (start time: 8 PM) on ACC Select.

The Maryland game is an intriguing one - it's BC's first ACC matchup of the year after an up-and-down start to the non-conference slate. Maryland, coming off a 5th place finish in the ACC a year ago, is currently 3-1. BC is 2-1-1 after a tie against St. John's on Sunday.

The women finish the weekend with a Sunday afternoon tilt against Central Connecticut State at 1 PM in Newton.

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Meanwhile, my colleague and confidante Grant Salzano, a native of the New Haven area, will be at tomorrow night's BC @ Yale women's volleyball game and will report back with pictures. Thanks Grant!

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On the gridiron, there are a few interesting games to keep an eye on. The first one took place tonight ,as UNC dropped a bomb on hapless Rutgers, bringing me much delight. The only thing that could make me happier is if UVA somehow gets it together and beats UConn in Storrs on Saturday. You never know...

Maryland hosts a ranked opponent, #23 Cal, Saturday at noon. We'll have to hold our nose and root for TOBy as NC State travels to Clemson, while Georgia Tech heads to Lane Stadium to battle Virginia Tech in a game that will tell us a lot about the status of both teams. If GT entertains any ideas of making a run to Tampa, they need to make a statement in this game.

Toilet Bowl game of the week: Duke vs. Navy!


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Non-sports news: '08 BC grad Mark Desrosiers and his outstanding band, This Blue Heaven (official website), took part in this week's Boston Music Festival and hope to get enough votes to advance to the final performance at City Hall Plaza. Head over to ourstage.com and sign up for an account [it takes five seconds]. Then, go to http://www.ourstage.com/fanclub/thisblueheaven and click 'Become a fan' to vote for them to advance.

Eagles take action... :)

-JG

Disappointing

Well, that sucked. I've given it a few hours to wear off, but still... it stings. I can't really think coherently about the game just yet.

Our defense was amazing today - forcing three turnovers and shutting down a number of promising Georgia Tech possessions to keep us in the game. Unfortunately, our offense was incapable of sustaining drives long enough to spell the defense - and that spelled doom, as the defense was clearly too worn down at the end to make those last few stops.

Let's be honest - Crane sucked. He was all over the place, and made a number of really questionable decisions to go along with his inaccurate throws. And Steve Aponavicius's missed chip shot field goal at the end of the first half now looms large in my mind.

I guess if there's one thing I would have changed, it would be to keep pounding it on the ground when BC had the ball right after Georgia Tech's go-ahead touchdown. Chris Crane had one play where he rolled right and had a clear running lane, but he aired it out and overthrew Rich Gunnell to set up fourth down.

Josh Haden was injured in the second quarter and he was sorely missed for the rest of the game; inside handoffs to McCluskey on 3rd-and-5 weren't really ideal.

The team now has two weeks to lick their wounds and load up to face UCF. The offense obviously needs a lot of work. Let's hope they can figure it out, or it's gonna be a long year.

BC women's soccer crushes Brown, 3-0

Wow - fresh off a tough defeat at the hands of Stanford on Sunday, the women's soccer team looked incredibly impressive this afternoon in a 3-0 drubbing of Brown to improve their record to 3-1 on the season.

There was a very nice crowd on hand, with a ton of kids - more kids than I've ever seen at a BC soccer game - and BC athletics did a great job, hosting a kids game at halftime and giving away "We are BC" drawstring bags to all fans in attendance. They have definitely stepped up their presence at soccer games so far this season, and for that I am very grateful. It appears that the athletic department is taking the marketing part of their job far more seriously this year; let's hope it yields results in the form of increased fan support.

The game itself was Eagle domination, start to finish. BC was faster, stronger, craftier, hungrier - Brown could do nothing, really. Brown had two very good chances on goal, one in each half, and freshman keeper Jillian Mastroeinni tipped both aside with nice saves.

On the other side, Brown keeper Breanna Hogue was helpless against a 15-shot BC attack. Caroline Walden scored the first goal, ripping a long, low shot from outside the box that rolled into the corner of the net, past an outstretched Hogue; she was screened on the shot and didn't jump for it until the last second.

Goal number two was a work of art - Kelly Henderson slipped it past a defender on the left wing to Alaina Beyar, who outran the defense and knocked the ball past Hogue. Gina Dimartino had a nice tip-in in front of the net late in the game to put the nail in the coffin.

It was a good day all around: the men's soccer team beat Villanova, 1-0, and the field hockey team beat Quinnipiac, 2-0. Volleyball lost to South Carolina 3-0 in Kingston, RI, the only blemish on the day - hopefully they can bounce back tomorrow as they continue tournament play in the Ocean State.

Photo Gallery: BC men's soccer vs. BU

Good luck to all BC teams competing today! I'll be at the women's soccer game vs. Brown at 5 PM.

Hockey tournament schedule (updated)

The dates are slightly different this year than they have been the past two years.

2/28 - Women's Hockey East Quarterfinals - 3 vs. 6, 4 vs. 5 (Campus Sites)
3/7-8 - Women's Hockey East Semifinals & Finals (Providence)
3/13-14 - Women's NCAA Regionals (Campus Sites)
3/13-15 - Men's Hockey East Quarterfinals (Campus Sites)
3/20 - Women's Frozen Four (Agganis Arena, BU)
3/20 - Men's Hockey East Semifinals (TD Banknorth Garden)
3/21 - Men's Hockey East Championship (TD Banknorth Garden)
3/22 - Women's National Championship Game (Agganis Arena, BU)
3/27-29 - Men's NCAA Regionals
4/9-11 - Men's Frozen Four (Washington DC)

Tentatively planned road trips for 2008-09

Here's some of the places I'm trying to get to this year...(Tentative)

Football-
Bowl game (God willing). When & where TBA

Men's Hockey-
all Boston road games
10/31 @ Merrimack
11/30 @ Dartmouth
1/2-1/3 @ New Brunswick
1/30 @ Providence
2/14 @ Lowell
2/20 @ UNH
3/27-29 @ NCAA regionals, place TBA
4/9-11 @ NCAA Frozen Four, Washington DC

Women's Hockey-
all Boston road games
10/8 @ UNH
10/25 @ Providence
11/5 @ Dartmouth
11/20 @ UConn
12/5 @ UConn
1/9-1/10 @ St. Lawrence (including St. Lawrence vs. Clarkson men's games)
1/29 @ UNH
2/22 @ Providence
2/27-3/1, Hockey East Tournament in Providence
3/6-3/8, NCAA Regionals, site TBA
3/13-3/15, NCAA Frozen Four @ BU

Men's Basketball
11/24-28, TBA, Preseason NIT (NYC?)
1/27 @ Maryland
March - NCAA tournament in Boston

Women's Basketball
11/18 @ Holy Cross
12/29-30 @ Dartmouth tournament

Men's Soccer
10/14 @ Yale

Really?

The BC men's soccer team lost to Providence yesterday, 1-0. This is quite a surprise. Hopefully they bounce back this weekend, as they take on Villanova and St. John's at the Adidas-Brown Classic in Providence.

The women's basketball team announced their schedule for 2008-2009.

On tap this weekend:

The men's soccer and women's volleyball teams both will participate in tournaments in Rhode Island this weekend, with the volleyballers in Kingston and the men's soccer team in Providence.

Women's soccer has two home games: Friday night at 5 PM vs. Brown, and Sunday afternoon at 1 vs. Toledo.

Field hockey has a pair of road games - at Quinnipiac Friday at 4, and at Holy Cross Sunday at 12.

Also, there's a football game. :)