Men’s soccer settles for draw against Princeton

Looking to build off a two-game win streak, the Boston University men’s soccer team tied Princeton University 2-2 Saturday afternoon at Nickerson Field.

Despite settling for a draw with the Tigers (1-2-2), BU coach Neil Roberts said he found some glimmers of hope from the game that can hopefully translate to success down the road.

“There were a lot of positives,” he said. “Some young kids, because of the injuries, got in and played a lot and fought very well. I think our fight was good. We somewhat kept our composure and at least battled pretty much the whole game and even into overtime.”

The Terriers (4-2-1) offense got off to a hot start, with senior forward Dominique Badji connecting for his second goal of the season in the eighth minute. Badji scored again in the 36th minute, finding the back of the net thanks to a header that put the Terriers up 2-0. However, the Terriers offense seemed to slow down after this offensive spurt over the first 45 minutes of play.

The Tigers could not get much going in the first half with only three shots on goal. Forward Thomas Sanner scored the first goal for Princeton in the 41st minute to cut the deficit to one.

“The goal we gave up late in the first half, which is a bad goal to give up, really hurt us,” Roberts said. “Credit them for taking advantage of it. We played the ball into a bad area, they pressured it, won it and that was disappointing. That somewhat opened the game up because it was anybody’s game at that point.”

The second half started out strongly for the Terriers, as junior forward Lucas McBride hit the crossbar in the 56th minute, just barely missing a chance to extend BU’s lead.

However, BU could not get the offense going after that, with missed opportunity after missed opportunity. Eventually, Princeton capitalized, tying the game in the 66th minute on an unassisted goal from junior Brendan McSherry. BU senior goalkeeper Nick Thomson was shaken up on the play, but he got up by his own power after a few moments.

Heading into overtime, the Tigers had been successful in shutting down Badji in his bid for a hat trick. Other than a close bid in the 89th minute, he was kept in check for the remainder of the game, as were the other Terriers.

The overtime periods were characterized by strong defense, as both sides only mustered a total of three shots each. Both team settled with the 2-2 draw after overtime.

It was an offensively charged game, with Princeton outshooting BU 15-14. The Terriers found a spark plug in Badji, who had five shots on the day. The Dakar, Senegal native left the game in the 21st minute after he caught an elbow to the face off an attempted header, but was able to return to the field just nine minutes later.

Badji’s brief absence was not the only injury the Terriers had to battle through in the game, as senior defender Kelvin Madzongwe had to leave the pitch in the 43rd minute.

Roberts attributed some of the Terriers’ defensive struggles to the loss of Madzongwe.

“He’s a big spot in our defense,” Roberts said. “He’s a big piece, so whenever you lose him, it changes things. We had to shift things around. In these games, you have to win the midfield, and we really didn’t do that today. Going into [the United States Naval Academy game], that’s going to be a key for us.”