The Boston University men’s soccer team ended its regular season schedule on a high note Saturday night when it defeated the University at Albany in a 3-2, overtime thriller at UA Varsity Field.
Junior Matthew Shea scored the game-winning golden goal and the first goal of his career at BU (9-6-2, 3-4-0 America East). The score was the first golden goal the Terriers have scored since 2006, when they defeated Albany (0-13-3, 0-6-1), 1-0, in the first round of the America East Tournament.
Sophomore Michael Bustamante was an instigator on offense for the Terriers, scoring the first goal and assisting on the last two. The sudden outburst on offense for Bustamante is not surprising for a player who is second for the Terriers in points with 14. Most of those points have come on assists, 10 in all on the season with two goals.
Junior Aaron O’Neal scored his 11th goal to finish the regular season as the Terriers’ leader in both points and goals. O’Neal reached 25 points this season, the most points scored in a single season since Joachim Kaland scored 44 in 2001.
Bustamante scored early, taking a pass from senior Samuel Appiah at 5:27. The sophomore lined up his shot and fired a rocket into the net from 25 yards out.
That would be the only score for the entire game until the Danes’ ‘ ‘ ‘ sophomore Shaun Kane tied things up in the 81st minute. Kane took a loose ball down the field and fired across the goal to the far post for an unassisted goal.
BU struck back just over five minutes later. Bustamante was the key again, beating defenders on the left side of the field then passing to the waiting O’Neal. The junior fired a one-timer into the net for what seemed like the game-winning goal.
However, in the 88th minute, Danes’ sophomore Konner McNamara scored off an assist from senior Anthony DeSalvo on a free kick. The score set up just the third overtime situation the Terriers have faced this season.
A little more than four minutes into the overtime period, Bustamante was there for an assist again, this time with a perfect crossing pass to Shea on the left side of the field. The junior’s shot from 12 yards away found its way past the Danes’ goaltender, sealing the Terriers’ final victory of the season.
Albany was handed its 13th loss in a season when they have not been able to find a way to win once. The last time an America East team went winless in a season was in 2006-07, when the University of Maine, which no longer has a soccer program, went 0-8-0 in conference and 0-17-0 overall.
The Terriers’ victory ended a 2009 season that has seen both nationally recognized success and disappointing failures that nearly killed any hopes the team had for a postseason America East Tournament run.
The win against the Great Danes, though it constituted a great, late-game effort, was only the third win the Terriers could muster in seven games against conference opponents. The win was their second-consecutive victory, but also just their second win in the last six games. That previous four-game losing streak forced the Terriers to second from the bottom of the America East standings and just out of reach of placement in the tournament.
However, thanks to a late season win against the University of Vermont, the Terriers managed to make the conference tournament once again as well as secure BU coach Neil Roberts’ 24th winning season as head coach at BU.
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