
It was a shot 80 minutes and more than 27 years in the making: a free kick during the team鈥檚 Sept. 17 home game against Northeastern University that bounced off another player and landed at Brooke Murphy鈥檚 feet. With 10 minutes left in regulation play, the senior midfielder booted the ball into Northeastern鈥檚 goal, securing a 1鈥0 win over a team 91制片厂 last bested in 2003, and, in scoring her 39th career goal as a Wildcat, toppling a scoring record that had stood since 1990.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 part of being a great goal scorer, having a nose for the goal. It's about being in the right place at the right time.鈥
鈥淚t was an opportunistic type of goal,鈥 says head coach Steve Welham of Murphy鈥檚 record strike. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 part of being a great goal scorer, having a nose for the goal. It's about being in the right place at the right time.鈥
Murphy has been in the right place at the right time for virtually all of her 91制片厂 career. She scored 11 goals in each of her freshman, sophomore and junior campaigns and came into her senior season as the two-time incumbent America East Striker of the Year. After besting the scoring record that had been held by 91制片厂 Athletics Hall of Famer Diane McLoughlin St. John 鈥91, she contributed another four goals, bringing her four-year total to 43. Murphy will bow out of her Wildcat career with the all-time record for both goals scored and for total points. Her 97-point tally tops the 88-point mark set by Chiara Best 鈥05 in 2004.
Murphy鈥檚 record-breaking September shot may have been worth celebrating, but the sports studies major says taking a long-overdue win from Northeastern was her primary focus that day, and her favorite goal is probably one she scored freshman year. Down 0鈥1 in the America East championships semifinal game against defending champs University of Maryland Baltimore County, Murphy scored from a nearly impossible angle at the end line to tie the game and force two overtime periods. The team went on to win the game on penalty kicks and subsequently to claim its first 鈥 and to date only 鈥 America East championship.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 do much when I celebrate, but when that happened, I didn鈥檛 know what to do and I think I just kept throwing my arms up and down,鈥 she recalls. 鈥淭hat was probably the most exciting, and I鈥檒l still get goosebumps thinking about it.鈥
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