Category: Sports
Kevin Nylen Named Men’s Soccer Head Coach
After a three-year stint as the head coach of Florida International University’s (FIU) men’s soccer team, Kevin Nylen takes the helm of Men’s Soccer at BU. His former team made the Conference USA tournament all three seasons under his direction and made the NCAA Tournament during his first season in charge. Five of his former players were drafted by Major League Soccer teams.
Patriot League Cancels Fall Sports Seasons
After weeks of striving to maintain a fall sports season by reducing travel and altering schedules to accommodate risks caused by the coronavirus, Patriot League officials announced that all fall sports schedules have been canceled, but that teams will still be allowed to practice and train. The decision was a painful blow for more than 100 BU student-athletes and coaches across soccer, field hockey, and cross country teams.
Men’s Basketball Upsets Colgate, Wins First-Ever Patriot League Championship
Boston University Men’s Basketball clinched a 64-61 victory over Colgate University, winning the 2020 Patriot League Tournament, their first championship since joining the league in 2013. Third-seeded BU defeated the top-seeded Raiders in a thrilling game on Colgate’s home court and is slated to advance to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2011.
Women’s Hockey Wins Beanpot
The women’s ice hockey Terriers won the 41st Women’s Beanpot Tournament, their first Beanpot championship since becoming a varsity team in 2005. BU seized the title with a 3-2 sudden-death overtime win over the Harvard Crimson.
New Coach, New Attitude for Women’s Basketball
Marisa Moseley (CAS’04) was a defensive star and team captain who, in 2003, helped lead the Terriers to their only NCAA tournament appearance. Moseley, who coached with Geno Auriemma at UConn, is the first alumna to lead BU’s program. To her, excellence begins with instilling a sense of pride and meaning in everything the players do, no matter how trivial.
Albie O’Connell Named New Men’s Hockey Head Coach
Once a Terrier, always a Terrier. As an undergrad, O’Connell (CAS’99) had 108 career points and led his team in scoring as captain his senior year. He played in two Frozen Fours and won a Hockey East title. Considered one of the NCAA’s top recruiters as a coach, O’Connell returned to BU in 2014. During his tenure as associate head coach, BU finished as the national runner-up in 2015, collecting the Beanpot and Hockey East titles. The Terriers reached the NCAA quarterfinals in 2017 and 2018. O’Connell calls his promotion to head coach “the opportunity of a lifetime.”
BU Student and Alums Skate for Olympic Gold
BU student Jordan Greenway (CGS’17, CAS’19) joins alums Matt Gilroy (MET’09) and John McCarthy (CAS’09) representing Team USA in ice hockey at the PyeongChang Olympics in South Korea, along with Team USA assistant coach Scott Young (CAS’87, MET’18). Also skating for more Olympic gold as part of Team Canada are alums Jennifer Wakefield (CAS’12) and Marie-Philip Poulin (CAS’15). Poulin scored the gold medal–winning goals in both 2010 and 2014.
BU Athletic Hall of Fame Inducts Six
BU Athletics names six Terrier legends to the BU Athletic Hall of Fame: veteran distance-running coach Bruce Lehane, former Athletics administrator Dick Fecteau (SED’51), and four accomplished athletes, Bob Danville (MET’82), Matt Gilroy (MET’09), Robyn Kenney (CAS’02, GRS’07), and April Setterlund (Questrom’11). All of this year’s athletes earned All-America honors as Terriers.
Let Games Begin on New Balance Field
Over the summer, West Campus students watch a tired brick building and a parking lot transform into a 110,000-square-foot athletic field and state-of-the-art underground parking facility, made possible by a $3 million donation from Brighton-based shoe manufacturer New Balance. Returning students discover the bright green New Balance Field, which is dedicated by the Board of Trustees in a ceremony on September 19.
The new field essentially doubles BU’s playable green space and makes it possible to bring field hockey back to campus and to add men’s lacrosse to the roster of Terrier varsity teams, as well as to provide practice space for varsity teams and the more than 8,000 students who play intramural and club sports.
First Men’s Varsity Lacrosse Coach Named
Five months after announcing plans to establish a Division I varsity men’s lacrosse team, BU taps 11-year coaching veteran Ryan Polley as the new team’s head coach. Polley spent the last six seasons as an assistant coach at Yale. He helped the Bulldogs claim the 2012 Ivy League tournament title with wins over lacrosse powerhouses Princeton and Cornell, earning the team its first NCAA bid since 1992. BU currently has a club team, which plays in the Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association’s Pioneer Collegiate Lacrosse League, finishing this past season with a 2–10 record. Lacrosse was officially designated as a club sport in 1972.
