Hoping to get its first win of the season while trying to exact a measure of revenge against a conference opponent, the Boston University men's soccer team went on the road and took down the University of Hartford 3-0 Saturday night.
Senior striker Aaron O'Neal tallied two goals for the Terriers (2-0-1), making it his fourth two-goal performance in just the previous two seasons and fifth overall in his BU career.
"Aaron was on pretty much all night," said BU coach Neil Roberts.
The Terriers came out playing hard from the gate, looking to rebound from a grueling 0-0 tie against the University of Massachusetts-Amherst last Wednesday. O'Neal got things started for BU just a minute into the match, placing the ball in the side netting from just inside the box on a breakaway.
O'Neal then added to his tally in the 15th minute, taking a pass from junior forward Stephen Knox to give the team a 2-0 lead over the Hawks (0-2-0).
"The first 35 minutes was very, very good," Roberts said. "Defensively, we played very well. We attacked well. We finished off chances."
Senior midfielder Ben Havey finished off the scoring for the night with a goal from the top of the box off of an assist from sophomore midfielder Ade Akinsanya. The goal was the first in Havey's career as a Terrier.
The win not only avenged last year's 2-1 defeat to the Hawks in the opening round of the America East Tournament, but it also snapped Hartford's 10-game home winning streak in the process.
The victory did not come without something of a loss, as junior midfielder Michael Bustamante was ejected after an altercation with Hartford defender Tomás Boyle in the 76th minute of the match. Boyle had thrown Bustamante to the ground, and Bustamante got up and retaliated, granting each player an automatic red card.
"It was unfortunate," Roberts said. "We need Michael to be more experienced than that. He didn't make the best decision, but he'll learn from it and move on."
Playing without Bustamante on Monday night at Nickerson Field, the Terriers finished off a successful Labor Day weekend by closing out Columbia University 2-0.
Havey again proved to be a dynamic force for this Terriers' team, providing a hand in each of the goals, scoring on one and assisting on the other.
Much like BU's 1-0 defeat of the Lions (0-2-0) last year, the game proved to be a slow, physical grind to the end, with no team really gaining an upper hand until late in the match.
"I think the first half we were all pretty lethargic, no excuses at all," Havey said.
With the match last night being BU's second in three days and third game in six days, the team found itself particularly vulnerable to the Columbia attack. Keeping the Terriers in the game, however, was the play of redshirt freshman goalkeeper Brandon Briggs, whose five saves in the first half helped BU survive the early onslaught.
"Briggs saved us, he kept us in the game in the first half, there's no doubt about it," Roberts said. "He made three really big saves and we left him out to dry."
The game remained a scoreless deadlock late into the second half until Havey gathered the ball about 35 yards out from goal, beat two defenders and slipped it under the charging Columbia goalie, Michael Attal, to put BU on the board with what was ultimately the winning goal with just over 13 minutes to play in the game.
"It was just a relief really because we certainly didn't play as well as we can tonight," Havey said. "But to break the deadlock and get that goal really settled us down."
The physical, back-and-forth play that had been exhibited throughout the game by both sides came to an apex in a scary moment with about eight minutes left to play when Columbia defender David Westlake was involved in a collision with Attal and BU senior forward Temi Akinsanya. Westlake remained on the ground and was tended to by trainers for about 20 minutes until he was carted off the field and put in an ambulance with what appeared to be a severe leg injury.
Entering the final minute of play, O'Neal finished off a short cross from Havey into an unprotected net to seal the win for the Terriers.
Given the prolonged period of no goals amid physical play, the team didn't collect any style points for their effort, but they left the playing field with exactly what they needed: a win.
"Anyway we can get a win is good," Havey said. "It wasn't particularly pretty, but we'll take it."
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