It was an epic battle between two former rivals, and the way the game was played, with 110 minutes of scoreless soccer, one team was going to go home bitterly disappointed. Unfortunately, for fans of the Eagles, that team was Boston College.
In the first round of the NCAA tournament, the Eagles but fell to Connecticut, 5-4, in penalty kicks, in what was a thrilling contest between two evenly matched teams.
"I guess you can't play till midnight, so you have to decide on some way to decide on who's going to progress in the tournament," said BC head coach Alison Kulik. "It's really hard [to end this way]."
Down 2-1 in penalty kicks, BC needed a gutsy effort from goalkeeper Sarah Buonomo just to extend the Huskies into sudden-death kicks.
Buonomo made saves in two of the last three rounds, a sprawling save on a shot from Annie Yi, and another on a shot from Big East Midfielder of the Year Meghan Schnur, while Hannah Cerrone and Chelsea Regan scored for BC.
"She made two great saves, two really big saves," Kulik said. "There wasn't really too much more we could have asked for her to do."
The Eagles and Huskies matched misses and goals in the sixth and seventh rounds, until Meghan Cunningham followed a BC miss with a goal to send UConn onto the second round.
On a cold, windy night in Boston, with temperatures plunging into the 30s, the two teams battled each other during a defensively played regulation. Both teams had their fair share of quality chances.
In the 17th minute of the first half, Schnur appeared to get free on a breakaway but Buonomo came well out of the box to shove her off the ball. Buonomo was issued a yellow card, and UConn was unable to convert the free kick.
Late in the half, the Eagles countered with a golden opportunity of their own. Brooke Knowlton headed a cross past UConn goalie Stephanie Labbe, but the ball bounced off the crossbar and back into Labbe's hands.
With six minutes to go in the second half, Knowlton corralled a loose ball off a cross and fired a shot from about 10 yards out. Labbe made a sliding save toward the near post to preserve the scoreless tie.
2008 Woodie Awards
