M. soccer hits .500 mark

The Boston University men’s soccer team recorded its second America East victory in a row with a 2-0 win over Binghamton University Saturday at Nickerson Field.
Under sunny skies, the Terriers (5-5-2, 2-1-0 AE) shut out one of the best teams in the conference.
‘ ‘This is a big win because this is a really good team,’ BU coach Neil Roberts said. ‘They’re definitely one of the top teams in the conference. To do anything for the last two years, you’ve had to go through Binghamton. What we want to have a chance of is not to have to go back to Binghamton [this year].’
The Terriers came out of the gates attacking, creating good opportunities throughout the first half. Although the Terriers could not convert any of those chances, they held the edge in shots in the first frame, 8-2. Overall, the Terriers outshot the Bearcats, 21-5, and recorded 10 shots on goal, while the Bearcats (6-3-3, 1-1-0) had just one.
‘We created chances,’ Roberts said. ‘When you do that, they get tired. When they’re chasing and they’re defending as much as they defended, then it takes a lot of their legs out. The second half, I think we accomplished that. It was 0-0 at halftime, but we were quite happy with the [first] half because we knew they chased a lot.’
BU finally got on the board in the 67th minute off its sixth corner kick of the game. After an injury left him sidelined for most of the first frame, freshman Michael Bustamante kicked the ball from the left corner into the box, where several Terriers were located. Bustamante found the head of junior Tom Strackhouse, who headed the ball past Binghamton junior goalkeeper Jason Stenta for his third goal of the season.
Bustamante struck again nearly 10 minutes later when he set up a play that eventually led to the second Terrier goal.
The rookie midfielder crossed the ball to the left side of the box, where freshman forward Stephen Knox was playing farther back than Bustamante expected. Sophomore Aaron O’Neal came in and managed to put a shot on goal. Stenta made the save on O’Neal’s shot, but allowed the ball to rebound right to the foot of Knox, who put the ball past a helpless Stenta.
‘I was just trying to focus on the ball and concentrate on getting it in the net,’ Knox said. ‘I just did my job and I’m glad we came up with a win.’
Stenta entered Saturday’s game ranked 17th in the nation with a 0.51 goals-against average and 15th with a .898 save percentage. But the BU offense was able to crack the Binghamton defense and beat Stenta twice.
‘Their team defense is excellent,’ Roberts said. ‘They don’t give up goals. The goalie doesn’t make mistakes. You have to beat him. He’s not going to give you anything. But it’s [also] collectively beating his team in front of him that does such a good job defending him.’
It was a battle of the defenses, as BU was able to break through the Binghamton backline while stopping the Bearcats with its own defense.
The Terrier backline was instrumental in the shutout. Senior captain Dan Schultz, freshman Colin Henry, sophomore Matt Shea and junior Richy Dorman were superb in halting a Binghamton offense that features forward Cameron Keith, last year’s America East leading goal and point scorer.
‘It’s a lot of hard work,’ Schultz said. ‘The defense hasn’t been that solid lately, and we’ve been giving up a lot of goals. But we’ve been working hard at defending as a unit and communicating a lot better. I think we showed that [Saturday].’