Worn out after playing two games in the last five days, the Boston University men's soccer team needed an outstanding effort from redshirt freshman goalie Brandon Briggs to keep up with Columbia University in the first half of their game Monday night. Briggs stood up to the pressure, recording five saves on five shots in the half to keep his team from falling behind.
"[Briggs] saved us," said BU coach Neil Roberts. "Briggs kept us in the game in the first half. He made some really big saves, and we left him out to dry."
Both the Terrier offense and defense looked overwhelmed by Columbia throughout the first 45 minutes, as the Lions disrupted most of their attempts at moving down the field and repeatedly forced play back in front of Briggs. As the defense struggled to get in position in the 16th minute of play, Columbia forward Nick Ayers headed a shot towards the net that looked like a sure goal. Briggs dove across the goalmouth and tipped the ball safely out of play.
Columbia had four corner kicks in the first half and created scoring chances from most of them. Briggs made saves on both high and low shots and prevented another scoring opportunity altogether by catching a pass out of the air in the goal box.
In the second half, the fatigued Terrier offense seemed to find its legs, and Briggs was only forced to make two more saves as seniors Ben Havey and Aaron O'Neal each scored to secure the victory.
"You should never ask a goalkeeper to make three big-time saves in the first half," Roberts said. "He did a great job. We left him out to dry in two of them. In the second half we did a better job &- I think they had one really good opportunity."
That one good opportunity came just a few minutes into the half, as junior midfielder Colin Henry had trouble controlling the ball and allowed two Columbia forwards to advance on the net. Briggs was there, as he had been all night, leaping to his right to make the stop.
Compared to some of the other teams on the Terriers' schedule &- including No. 17 St. John's University and No. 12 Boston College, whom BU will face next week &- Columbia could be considered a relatively weak opponent. Briggs said the lackluster matchup didn't play a role in the team's preparation for the game.
"It doesn't matter [who you're playing]. Any day, some team could beat you," Briggs said, a statement reinforced by the Lions' apparent dominance early in the game. "Every game's different. The first 10 minutes can decide how the game's going to be played. It's something you have to get used to, and we came out with the win."
BU's young defenders have been somewhat inconsistent, but they have mostly avoided making game-changing mistakes thus far. As they settle into their positions in the backfield, they may be able to do so with a little more confidence knowing that they have a goalkeeper on top of his game behind them.
"Without a doubt Briggs was the hero tonight," said Havey, who scored the game-winning goal with less than 15 minutes left to play. "Without him, we could have been two or three down at halftime. All three games so far this season, considering he's pretty inexperienced, he's been faultless, really. He's been quality."
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
