Meghann Cook's third goal of the season was all the Terriers needed in their 1-0 win over Maine

Freshman Meghann Cook (Melrose) scored her third goal of the season in the 16th minute of action and it stood up as the Terrier women's soccer team shut out the University of Maine in an America East game at B.U. on Tuesday afternoon (September 17th).

It marked the conference opener for both teams, and it kept the Terriers undefeated and once tied in their last 26 regular-season conference games. Dating back to October 17, 1999, B.U. is 25-0-1 in regular-season America East games. Tuesday's win improved the Terriers' overall record this year to 3-2-1.

In the meantime, Maine, which started its season 2-0-0, suffered its third straight loss as the Black Bears are now 2-3-0 overall.

The Terriers, who were the America East coaches' pre-season pick to win their third straight conference title, got the only goal they would need when Cook beat Maine goalie Naomi Welsh at the 15:29 mark of the game.

The winning play was set up when junior Katie Smurthwaite (West Hartford, CT) got control of a Terrier corner kick and boomed the ball over to Cook, who was camped just to the left of Welsh. Cook one-timed the shot and beat the Black Bear goalie, as it was only the third goal she had allowed in Maine's first five games. In fact, Welsh went into the game with a conference best 0.51 goals against average.

Maine, which had been picked third in the conference in the coaches' pre-season poll, had two excellent opportunities during the game, but each time the ball hit the crossbar. The first came in the 13th minute of action when Heather Hathorn's shot hit the bar. The second came in the 72nd minute when Jen Buckley's also hit the bar.

Jessica Clinton

For the game, Terrier junior keeper Jessica Clinton (Valley Stream, NY) had eight saves in notching her second shutout of the season and 12th of her career.

In the meantime, Welsh had four saves in the Maine net.

It was a physical match that featured 30 fouls, 22 of which were assessed to Maine.

"I liked our composure and the emotional control we showed especially in the first half," Terrier head coach Nancy Feldman said after the match. "I think in the second half, we got fatigued because this was our third game in five days. As a result, I think the physical part of the game got to us.

"In general, I was very happy with the win," the coach continued.

"This was our first conference game, and it's nice to have this one behind us. Maine is a very good, physical team, and this was a very good win for us.

"As I told the team after the game, we are still a work in progress," the coach concluded. "We have our better soccer ahead of us, and we have a lot of work to do before we get there."