Soccer, Sports

Felix De Bona’s strike, stout defense pushes men’s soccer past Siena

PHOTO BY ANN SINGER/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
Freshman defender David Riccio helped BU to a 1-0 shutout Tuesday vs. Siena. PHOTO BY ANN SINGER/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The Boston University men’s soccer team returned to their winning ways Tuesday evening at Nickerson Field, where they defeated Siena College, 1-0.

In the first half, the Terriers (2-1) controlled the run of play and a majority of possession, and nearly reaped the dividends of their attacking might. Particularly, BU exposed Saints (0-2-2) left back Milorad Sobot time and time again.

Through the combination play of junior right back David Asbjornsson and junior right midfielder Mark Wadid, the Terriers surged up the flank and lofted numerous teasing balls behind Siena’s back line.

“We worked that in in practice,” Wadid said. “I think we had a plan going into the game and we executed it exactly the way the coaches were telling us to, and it worked for a bit. We got some success out of it, but unfortunately a goal didn’t come of it [at first].”

The first enticing opportunity occurred when Wadid curled a right-footed service into the path of junior forward Felix De Bona in the second minute, only to see his cross headed just wide. Shortly after, it was sophomore midfielder Anthony Viteri who decided to test Sobot, and he did so with aplomb in the 14th minute.

After making an overlapping run, Viteri crossed into the path of De Bona, who conjured up a bicycle kick that narrowly missed going under the crossbar. Nonetheless, the Terriers were unable to find a way past Siena’s physically imposing defense, leaving BU coach Neil Roberts lamenting what could have been.

“We wanted to do better in the offensive third,” Roberts said. “The crosses weren’t always going to work since they’re a big team, so what we needed to do was take people on and break them down that way … That opens them up and gives people more room and we did it only once in the first half.”

Despite a disappointing first half, the Terriers were rewarded for their persistence in the 47th minute when De Bona broke the deadlock.

After a lung-busting run from Viteri, the Flushing, New York, native whipped a cross right onto the head of De Bona, who made no mistake in heading the ball past Siena goalkeeper Ryan Vyskocil. The goal was De Bona’s third in as many games, and illustrated a player on the verge of breaking out in a fashion he never quite did during his freshman and sophomore campaigns.

“It feels amazing,” De Bona said. “In the first two years, I’ve been here it didn’t happen like that, so I feel very blessed to play three games and get three goals. I can only hope that it continues.”

Nonetheless, BU’s stranglehold on the proceedings wilted after its tally and Siena slowly found its way back into the action. Just a minute after De Bona’s strike, Saints midfielder David Itoafa missed a diving header by inches, although he appeared to have junior goalkeeper Matt Gilbert beaten.

“[Siena] should have had one for sure,” Roberts said. “Defensively it was a little helter-skelter, so that wasn’t good. …We had a lot of young guys in there and it was a gutsy performance, but it wasn’t clean in the last 30 minutes.”

Through a willingness to take their defender on, the Saints’ forward partnership of Alexander Tejera and Junior Rosero troubled BU’s defense as the match wore on. However, the Terriers stood tall and Gilbert’s veteran presence between the pipes kept Siena at bay, allowing the team to secure its second victory of the season.

Perhaps most importantly though, BU surged above the .500 mark and has arguably set the tone for the rest of their season.

“I think we deserved the win from beginning to end, regardless of what happened throughout the game,” De Bona said. “It was a game that will define a little bit of our season since we started 1-1. We’re not going under .500, we’re going over .500. It really motivates the team to continue and keep going.”

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Jonathan's a New Englander who writes about sports, features and politics. He currently covers men's hockey at BU, worked as Sports Editor during the spring 2016 semester and is on the FreeP's Board of Directors. Toss him a follow on Twitter at @jonathansigal.

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