Playing the defending national champions in a season opener is a difficult task for any team. Traveling halfway across the country to play two teams ranked in the national Top 10 in three days is even tougher.
But for the Boston University men’s soccer team, the hardest task of all may be dealing with the reality that they were only 75 seconds away from pulling off one of the biggest upsets in program history.
The Terriers fought their way to a 2-1 lead against No. 1 Indiana University, last season’s national champion, only to allow a heartbreaking goal at the end of regulation and fall short, 3-2, in overtime in the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic on Friday.
“[Indiana] was a devastating loss,” BU head coach Neil Roberts said Monday. “We really felt we put ourselves in a position to win that game.”
Following the loss to the Hoosiers, BU was unable to bounce back Sunday as it lost 2-0 to No. 9 Notre Dame in its second game of the tournament.
Now, the BU players and coaches have to move past the fact that the team came within an eyelash of equaling the 1994 team’s astonishing 3-2 upset of then-No.1 University of Virginia to open the season.
“We fought so hard and to come away with nothing was pretty tough,” said senior captain Brian Conway.
Indiana junior Brian Plotkin netted the equalizer at 88:45 and sophomore Jacob Peterson ended any hope of a BU upset with the game-winning goal four minutes into the first overtime.
The Hoosiers dominated the Terriers statistically, with a 24-6 edge in shots and an 11-2 advantage in corner kicks. Indiana took a 1-0 lead into halftime, but BU roared back in the second half with goals from junior midfielder Jamie Johnson and senior defender-turned-forward Erik Evjen.
The Terriers, however, failed to control the clock toward the end of the game and the mighty Hoosiers managed to escape unscathed.
“We came back in the second half and felt we had a good chance,” Roberts said. “Even [Indiana] said they were very lucky to take it to overtime.”
Against the Fighting Irish, BU again suffered from a significant statistical difference, tallying only six shots to Notre Dame’s 16 and three corner kicks to the Irish’s eight.
Even in the face of such a statistical disadvantage and an aggregate 5-2 score for the weekend, Roberts said he was pleased with his team’s effort.
“I felt our guys really did a good job,” he said. “We got some very good opportunities in the second half against probably the best goalkeeper in the country [Fighting Irish senior Chris Sawyer] and one of the best defenses in the country in Notre Dame.”
Players and coaches both agreed that part of the Terriers gritty play was a direct result of a team that is more united both on and off the field as compared to recent years.
“The chemistry on this team is as good as I’ve seen in three or four years,” Roberts said. “This team reminds me of the teams in the ’90’s and the ’80’s.”
Heading into the season, BU knew team unity would be a key aspect on a club that brought in the largest recruiting class in recent memory.
Conway said the heralded freshman class hasn’t missed a beat so far and has fit in perfectly with the rest of the team.
“It’s a great feeling to have everyone on the same page,” the senior said. “I think we really came together as a team before the game. There were definitely more positives than negatives on this trip.”
The defense will be a crucial element for BU to succeed this season as well, and the pressure falls on a group comprised of two sophomores, one freshman and two sophomore goalkeepers splitting time in net.
“We feel that for us to be a nationally ranked team, we need to be really solid defensively,” Roberts said. “Indiana and Notre Dame don’t make defensive mistakes, and that’s where we want to be.”
For the players, Conway said he wants his teammates to remember how they felt as they walked off the field Friday knowing they had let a golden opportunity slip past.
“We should remember the feeling of almost beating the No. 1 team in the country,” he said. “We should remember it and next time we should go out knowing that we can beat these guys.”