Tuesday night against No. 17 Boston College, the Boston University men’s soccer team’s play was much like the pre-game playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner”: well meaning and with lots of effort, but ultimately futile.
After multiple stop-and-go attempts at the national anthem, one that ended up not being played to completion, the Terriers (7-7, 3-1 America East) followed suit with a strong defensive effort that eventually faltered in a 1-0 loss to the Eagles (10-4).
The Terriers’ defense-first strategy paid off for much of the game, but BC midfielder Kyle Bekker did BU in when he netted his team-leading seventh goal of the season in the 67th minute. Bekker hit the one-timer home from about 10 yards out to the deep right corner off of an assist from forward Charlie Rugg, who collected his team-leading fifth assist on the goal.
It was the only blemish in an otherwise impressive night for freshman goalkeeper Nick Thomson, who did manage to stop five Eagle shots. The goal also tarnished BU’s defensive effort, which to that point had stopped BC attack after BC attack.
But after the tally, BU started to abandon their defense-first mindset in favor of a more urgent one and started to attack more. While the change didn’t lead to any more Eagle goals, it was also to no avail on the offensive side.
The clock ran out after BU failed to do anything with its only corner kick of the game in the 85th minute, making the Terrier defense’s unyielding first half all for nothing.
In those initial 45 minutes, the Terriers had a clear game plan and stuck to it. BU played very conservatively, keeping most of its players – and at one point every player except freshman forward Dominque Badji – on the Terriers’ defensive side of the field.
This was all in an attempt to keep the high-powered BC offense and its 24 goals on the season at bay and, according to Roberts, it was completely by design.
“We just wanted to hold back a little bit,” said BU coach Neil Roberts. “They are very good technically, and they have got some pace so we just didn’t want to be exposed.”
The effort was not a complete success – BC managed to accrue ten shots, including two on goal, in the first half – but the strong defense anchored by sophomore Kelvin Magzongwe held up and grounded the Eagles.
“[Madzongwe] has got some young kids he is playing with back there so he is trying to hold it together and he is doing a fantastic job,” Roberts said.
Still, the defensive strategy did not mean BU sacrificed all of its of offense during what was a war of attrition for much of the first half. The Terriers did manage 11 shots throughout the game, including three on goal, one from freshman midfielder Cameron Souri and the other two from senior forward Ben Berube.
Berube in particular created quite a few close chances, especially in the 21st minute when he dribbled the ball up the left side, simply outrunning each BC defender he encountered. When it was down to just Berube versus a last defender and BC goalkeeper Justin Luthy, Berube was apparently tripped inside the six-yard box but did not get the call from the referee.
Roberts was upset with the call at the time, but did not go as far to say BU should have received a penalty kick.
“Sometimes you get them, sometimes you don’t,” Roberts said.
The non-call was one of several instances when Berube dribbled all around the offensive zone without much of a clear effort to find an open teammate. While Roberts didn’t explicitly mention Berube, the coach did have a problem with the team-wide habit.
“When the game gets going we tend to dribble too much, and when we start dribbling it is real dangerous for us,” Roberts said. “It seems like in crunch time sometimes, especially when we are down, we tend to dribble a little bit too much and we have to stick to the plan.”
Non-conference loss aside, Roberts also gave bad news about senior defender Colin Henry, who re-injured a hamstring on Oct. 12 against University of Vermont. Henry is out for at least the regular season, and Roberts was not optimistic about Henry’s chances to play in the America East Tournament, which starts Nov. 5.
In the meantime, BU still has some work to do, as it is one game back from first-place University of Maryland-Baltimore County with three games to go.
“We have to be smarter,” Roberts said. ‘The decision making still isn’t where we would like it to be.”
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