Boston College Eagles
Overall Rank: #16
Conference Rank: #7 ACC
Boston College Team Page
Boston College’s defense let them down last season, but a disappointing campaign by Boston College standards still results in a trip to the NCAA Tournament. After making relatively easy work of Hofstra, the Eagles ran into another potent offense that they could not stop. After Penn State got off to an early 2-0 lead, the Eagles could not quite catch up. The Nittany Lions, who ended up losing in the tournament final, went on to win 5-2.
2012 Record: 11-8-3, 6-1-2
2012 Postseason: NCAA
Coach: Alison Foley
Strengths:
The BC scoring punch will almost have to take a step back without Kristie Mewis and Victoria DiMartino, the school’s first and third all-time leading scorers. Mewis totaled an amazing 16 goals and 12 assists during her senior season to cap off an amazing career. DiMartino added two goals and six assists. Despite losing those two, the Eagles have plenty of scoring threats coming back and more headed into the program. Junior striker Stephanie McCaffrey will pick up a bulk of the scoring load after netting ten goals and adding seven assists in 2012. McKenzie Meehan found the back of the net nine times during her impressive freshman season. Kate McCarthy is the most proven scorer in a talented midfield. She scored five times last season and will be a co-captain along with fellow senior midfielders Patric Vettori and Gibby Wagner. As usual, Coach Alison Foley will have a handful of talented freshmen who are capable of making a big splash right away. Forwards Hayley Dowd and Jessica Holmes and attacking midfielder Rosie DiMartino highlight the attacking options in this class.
Weaknesses:
There was a seven game stretch in October where the Eagles gave up 20 goals. Five of those teams were ranked in the top ten at the time, but Boston College is an elite program. Elite teams need to beat elite teams. Allowing four goals to Duke and Florida State and five to Virginia and Penn State is not going to cut it when the goal is always a conference title and a deep NCAA Tournament run. Zoe Lombard, Casey Morrison and Lauren Bernard are back to anchor the line and freshmen like Meg McDonald are capable of helping out. The Eagles never found a suitable replacement in goal last season even though Alexa Gaul spent nearly the entire season in net. But now Gaul is gone and the keeper spot is back up for grabs. Once again Jessica Mickelson is the expected starter. She saw action in five games as a junior and the Eagles really need her to step up and become a presence between the posts.
Final Projection:
The ACC is not forgiving when it comes to exploiting a weakness. The long and brutal schedule catches up to every team one way or another. For the Eagles this year it will likely again be the defense that will have runs of poor showings. The offense is good enough to make up for it on occasion. During the October goal scoring fest against BC, the Eagles did take Maryland to overtime and beat North Carolina State and top ranked Florida State. But getting into high scoring affairs is not the way to make a big run in the NCAA Tournament. An off shooting day or another potent offense with a slightly better defense is always just around the corner. There is good reason to hope BC can turn things around. This is not a program that has many down years, and it is really hard to even call 2012 a down year. Even without massive strides defensively, Boston College will be competitive in the ACC and win a game or two in the tournament.
Projected Postseason: NCAA
Returning Leaders:
Goals: Stephanie McCaffrey, Junior, F, 10
Assists: Stephanie McCaffrey, Junior, F, 7
Shots: Stephanie McCaffrey, Junior, F, 49
Saves: Jessica Mickelson, Junior, GK, 5
Madness 2013 Women’s Soccer Recruit Rankings:
#10 Haley Dowd
#29 Rosie DiMartino
#43 Meghan MacDonald
#109 Jessica Holmes
See All Women's Soccer Top 44 Team Previews
