Men’s soccer withstands Navy in thrilling contest

The Boston University men’s soccer team opened up Patriot League play Saturday with a 2-0 win against the United States Naval Academy at Nickerson Field.

Coming off a draw against Princeton University on Sept. 20, the Terriers (5-2-1, 1-0 Patriot League) were able to fend off multiple Navy (4-4-1, 0-1 Patriot League) chances and capitalize in the second half.

BU coach Neil Roberts, who is in his 30th year with the team, was honored before the game for his years of dedication and service to the program and was pleased with his team’s efforts against the defending conference champion.

“They really had us under a lot of pressure in the first half,” Roberts said. “They put us under the gun for sure, and that was tough. We withstood it, and in the second half, we got the goal. We took the goal well, and then we possessed the ball a little bit and made them chase us.”

The Midshipmen had a commanding control of possession in the first half, outshooting the Terriers 11-3 during this span.

The only real opportunity for BU in the first half came in the first minute of play, when senior forward Dominique Badji’s shot was just wide to the left.

Badji is coming off a solid game against Princeton (3-2-2) in which he scored two goals. The Midshipmen minimized Badji’s presence over the first 45 minutes of play, but he was able to capitalize later over the final 45 minutes of play.

The first half was highlighted by stellar play from BU senior goalkeeper Nick Thomson. Thomson made five saves in the first half but was under pressure throughout, consistently diving for the ball and leaving the net.

Within the first ten minutes, the Midshipmen had a couple of strong scoring chances that were shut down by the BU defense. Thomson laid out in the third minute to stop forward Sam Bascom’s shot, while senior Grant Valenstein’s shot was blocked in the seventh minute.

In the 22nd minute, Thomson made another solid save off a shot from forward Jamie Dubyoski – who leads Navy with 11 points on the young season.

The saves from Thomson were especially impressive considering Navy came into this contest leading the Patriot League in scoring, with 1.88 goals per game. The Midshipmen’s offensive attack was strong, but Thomson was stronger.

The second half was an entirely different story from the first. The Midshipmen still got their shots with 13 in total against the Terriers, but BU’s offense made its shots count.

“We started having confidence in our passing,” Roberts said. “We moved the ball from side to side, and we didn’t do that in the first half. Give Navy credit. They pressured us well for a long time, and obviously they’re fit and didn’t stop. I felt like it was the Navy SEALs. They just kept coming and coming.”

In the 53rd minute of play, freshman midfielder David Amirani sent a cross to junior forward Lucas McBride, who connected from 10 yards out for his second goal of the season.

In the 65th minute, the Terriers took a commanding 2-0 lead. Thomson, who seemed to be involved with every big play in this game, had a great read on Badji and assisted him on his fourth goal of the year.

Thomson continued to make great saves as well, earning a career high nine saves in the match, despite surrendering a goal to forward Alex Evans in the 79th minute.

In a game where he seemed to dominate the field, Thomson did not talk about himself. He raved about Roberts, who recorded the 324^th victory of his career Saturday night.

“He came in at halftime, and he was disappointed in the showing,” Thomson said. “He was like, ‘Look guys, you’ve done fantastic to come away with a zero at halftime, but you’ve got so much more to show in the second half.’

“He was trying to get everyone going again, and he made a couple technical changes – he wanted us to play out the back a bit more and feed the midfielders, and be a bit more composed.”