The Boston University men’s soccer team battled to a 1-1 tie against the State University of New York at Albany on a cold and windy day Saturday at Nickerson Field.
Homecoming weekend proved frustrating for the Terriers (7-3-2, 2-0-1 America East), who tied an opponent, 1-1, for the second straight game. Despite being disappointed with the results, the tie extends the BU’s regular season home-unbeaten streak to 14 games.
Plagued by the same offensive woes from last weekend’s game against West Virginia University, the Terriers were once again unable to get the offensive power surge they greatly needed. Despite the offense’s inability to put the ball in the net, the BU defense played solidly, allowing only seven shots on goal.
BU dominated the offensive end of the game, outshooting Albany, 23-13, and had a 13-3 advantage on corner kicks. Despite many great scoring chances, the Terriers were only able to put one goal on the board.
BU Coach Neil Roberts was clearly disappointed with the numerous missed chances and felt the Terriers should have been able to score more frequently.
‘In the last two games, we’ve had chances to win,’ Roberts said. ‘The difficult part of the game is creating scoring chances, and we can do that. It’s disappointing that we’re not putting the chances away. We are not finishing off.’
Albany (7-4-1, 2-0-2 America East) struck first at 14:45 when Caio Silva, unassisted, snuck the ball passed Terrier goalkeeper Matt Smith from 30 feet out. It was just the second goal Smith has given up in four games. He rebounded from the goal by going on to make five more saves including game-saving stops during the two overtime periods.
BU got on the board at 41:46 with a goal by sophomore midfielder Federico Bianchi. Junior midfielder Andrew Dorman, who led BU with four shots on goal, and junior back Michael Feely assisted on the tally.
The goal was initiated by a Dorman corner kick that led to a shot from Feely that bounced off an Albany player. Bianchi ran in to save the ball and score the lone Terrier goal on Albany goalkeeper Bouna Coundal.
Both teams’ defenses held the other scoreless in the second half. In both overtime periods the Terriers had many opportunities to put the game away. Junior forward Alan McNamara nearly made the winning shot, as his kick sailed just over the goal in the closing minutes of overtime. McNamara’s last minute near goal summed up the frustrations of Roberts and the players.
‘Defensively, we were good,’ Roberts said, ‘We had the people we wanted in front of the goal and were able to go one on one with the keeper. You’ve got to finish chances.’
McNamara echoed Roberts’ disappointment.
‘We expected to win today,’ McNamara said. ‘It’s disappointing, but it’s not the end of our season; now we aim to win every other conference game.’
Before the Terriers head into tournament play, they will face five tough conference games. Their next test comes Wednesday, Oct. 23, when they head to Northeastern University in a rematch of last year’s America East Tournament, when the Huskies upset the Terriers in the first round.