The Boston University men’s soccer team entered on a three-game winning streak in which it scored at least three goals per game before taking on Colgate University Friday night.
The latter part of the streak came to a close as the Terriers (8-3, 4-1 Patriot League) only put one past the Raiders (5-4-3, 1-2-2 PL), but that was enough for the result and a continued winning streak.
“We were able to weather the storm a little bit as a team,” said senior midfielder Ethan Gill, who has recorded a goal or assist in each of the team’s last four games.
“[There were] times we had to sit in and pick our moments, but when the opportunity presented itself, we were able to capitalize,” Gill continued.
In the first half, the Terriers looked more in their element, as freshman midfielder Sebastian Otero had an early chance, but no shot resulted from it.
Soon after, the Raiders made two attempts. One from Colgate forward Blake Pipkin forced a save from BU senior goalkeeper Sheraz Saadat, but neither of the two attempts came to fruition.
In a seven-minute span that saw five shots from the Terriers, junior forward Andrea Di Blasio got closest, hitting the crossbar in the 17th minute and forcing Raider goalkeeper Eric Widrick to make his first save in the 19th with a header off a ball from Gill.
Despite the chances and near misses, it would be a stalemated first half where BU more than doubled Colgate’s shots (9-4).
The second half opened reminiscent of the first — Otero with a chance, though this time recording a shot on goal. Saadat then made a save, off of another shot from Pipkin.
A minute after a Colgate shot missed to the right, Saadat made back-to-back saves in a crowded box to keep the Raiders off the board, which would be crucial as the Terriers saw fewer chances in the second half — just four shots to the Raiders’ seven.
Another messy moment in front of the BU goal in the 68th taunted the level scoreline, but once again, Saadat stayed with it and made the save.
“[Saadat is] gaining more and more confidence,” Head Coach Kevin Nylen said. “Set piece-wise, [Colgate] put some good balls back post, and in the second half, a couple longer throws and flicks. He handled himself really well, had to control his line but also extend out, so he was good for handling some pressure for us.”
Four minutes later, sophomore midfielder Pharis Petrica made his way back on the field, and freshman defender Austin Mobray made his first appearance of the night.
Making an immediate impact, Mobray made a penetrating run to receive a defender-beating pass from Petrica. He passed it on to Gill who broke through for the 1-0 lead.
“The game always looks slower when you’re on the bench, so when I got something, it was a quick change, but my first touch of the game was the cross into Ethan,” Mobray said. “I think that it set the tone well for the rest of the game.”
Colgate got a late shot that sent Saadat stretching with under four minutes remaining. In the 87th minute, junior defender Ben Mazza-Bergeron made a successful sliding tackle that sent the ball off the Colgate player to give BU a late goal kick and help them run the clock down and preserve the 1-0 result.
In a tense and physical game, this defensive moment elicited nearly the same level of reaction from the team as the goal, leading them into the final three minutes of the game and toward the eventual first-career shutout for Saadat.
“At the end of the day, you take the win. You take the shutout [in a] physical game,” Nylen said. “There’s a lot of positives. We’re walking away with a one-nil win at home, pushing us to four and one conference, which is big.”
With the win, the Terriers land even with American University atop the Patriot League standings — the Eagles being the next PL opponent the Terriers will face — with four regular season conference games left.
In the meantime, the Terriers wrapped up their homestand with a break from the conference against Northeastern University Tuesday night, losing late 2-3.