Fighting for a win

AMHERST – Start strong, finish strong, call it a day and go home.

That philosophy seemed to work well enough for the Boston University men’s soccer team yesterday. The 3-4-1 Terriers (0-0-1 America East) scored two goals in the first eight minutes of play and added an insurance goal with 1:15 left for a 3-1 non-league victory at UMass-Amherst.

Freshman midfielder Neil Hlavaty teamed up with senior forward Sedrick Chin in the fourth minute, while sophomore forward Roland Erlichman notched an unassisted goal in the eighth minute, as BU exploded from the starting line against the 3-6-0 Minutemen.

“If we had kept it up at that pace it would have been 88-2,” said BU coach Neil Roberts.

With the win, BU extends its current unbeaten streak to three games. Hlavaty, who has emerged as BU’s offensive spark the last few games, took the ball near the left touchline and drew the defense’s attention before feeding it to Chin, who blasted a shot past UMass’s junior goalkeeper Nick Billman for the first tally. But according to UMass coach Sam Koch, no goalie on earth was going to stop that shot.

“That first shot was a freakin’ rocket,” he said.

Minutes later, Erlichman – last season’s leading scorer – tallied his first goal of the season off a header to give BU the 2-0 lead.

But in the 29th minute, UMass managed to stop the bleeding and cut into BU’s two-goal cushion when Prince Ofusu corralled a corner kick and fed the ball to Kenneth Cooke, who headed his second goal of the season past BU goalie Zach Riffett.

With junior co-captain Chad Comroe watching from the sidelines, Riffett played another solid game in net, making two saves – not including his diving grab that kept a backpass off the foot of sophomore Derek Puerta from finding the back of the Terriers’ own net.

And while the Minutemen controlled most of the possession after the half, they couldn’t convert on any opportunities to tie.

“We were getting into situations where we were getting chances,” Koch said. “But at the end, they put it away. It’s very hard to be down 2-0 and come back, but I thought we did the best we could.”

The Terrier defense played a solid game – much more so than in last Saturday’s 1-1 draw against the University of Maine – even without the presence of the injured Zach Kirby.

“We made that decision [to bench Kirby] yesterday and I didn’t get much sleep last night,” Roberts said.

But Puerta stepped in to help anchor a back line that didn’t allow a single breakaway.

“[I felt] a little bit [of extra pressure], but Puerta has played before,” said senior captain Matt Cross. “He really stepped up today. Felix [Vincent] did a good job holding the line, and Shane [Westbrook] played an unbelievable game.”

With captains Comroe and senior midfielder Jamie Johnson sidelined, Cross proved to be the stabilizing force on the field for the Terriers. The senior back’s leadership proved invaluable, because as momentum began to swing toward UMass, tempers on the pitch began to flare.

In the 75th minute, Hlavaty made one of the many late tackles that dominated the play of both teams and was involved in an ensuing altercation that led to a stoppage of play and two yellow cards.

Hlavaty argued with the initial foul call and got into it with UMass back Douglas Rappaport, who responded by shoving Hlavaty in the chest with both hands. The clock was stopped, and both Hlavaty (for the tackle) and Rappaport (for the shove) were issued yellows.

In the game’s waning minutes, UMass pressed hard to net an equalizer, but the BU defense held firm.

“The bigger concern for me was defensively,” Roberts said. “I knew the offense was going to come. The defense was an issue for us. You won’t do well down the stretch if you don’t take care of business defensively.”

BU was able to exploit the desperate Minutemen in the 89th minute, when freshman Dan Schultz notched the insurance goal, putting BU on top, 3-1 and effectively finishing UMass’s chances. The goal was Schultz’s first as a Terrier.

“[Wednesday’s game] was good for Derek, and it’s good for Paddy [Ferriter],” Roberts said. “We had a lot of guys out there that hadn’t been playing much. It was key that these guys could come in and give us a win.”