In the final game of the 2014 regular season, the No. 24 Boston University men’s soccer team played to a 1-1 draw against Bucknell University Saturday in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
The Terriers (11-3-4, 6-0-3 Patriot League), who had already clinched the top seed for next week’s Patriot League Tournament with a 0-0 draw against American on Nov. 1, ended the regular season the way they have played most of the year – earning points.
“It was good to go on the road and get points,” said BU coach Neil Roberts. “They played well and were trying to hopefully get three points to have a home game in the tournament, but like a lot of the games toward the end of the season, we controlled part of it, and they controlled part of it. We played a bit conservative toward the end, but overall, it was a good performance for the guys.”
The Roberts-led squad finished the season with an unbeaten conference record for the first time since 1994. They also only suffered one loss in its final 14 games.
Despite the absence of their leading scorer, senior forward Dominique Badji, the Terriers got off to a strong start in the first half.
The Terriers struck first in the 30th minute when sophomore forward Felix De Bona connected for his fourth goal of the season off a cross from junior forward Mac McGuire. Senior midfielder Jordan Barker also contributed on the play for his fifth assist, which leads the team.
BU held the lead into the second half due to the strong play of the defense and senior goalkeeper Nick Thomson, who leads the Patriot League with a .831 save percentage for the season.
The Bison (8-9-3, 4-3-2 Patriot League) could not capitalize on opportunities in the first half, despite having a 6-3 shots advantage.
Bucknell was able to get the equalizer early in the second half, though, as forward Jesse Klug evaded defenders and connected for his ninth goal of the season in the 49th minute. Midfielder Sebastiaan Blickman and senior Jonathan Grad assisted on the play.
Part of the reason the Bison got back into the game was due to an injury to freshman midfielder David Amirani, who has been integral to the Terriers’ success this year.
BU has dealt with a number of injuries to key players this season, among them Badji, junior defender Jeroen Blugh and sophomore midfielder David Asbjornsson.
“We’re optimistic that everyone will be available for Friday,” Roberts said. “Everybody’s close, but we’ll definitely know more on Tuesday. Asbjornsson is probably the one most in question, though.”
The Bison finished the game with a 19-11 shots advantage, including 11 attempts in the second half.
As has been the case all year, younger players stepped up, one of them being reigning Patriot League Rookie of the Week – freshman defender Bjarki Benediktsson.
“A lot of the shots weren’t really dangerous,” Roberts said. “We lost the midfield a little bit, which was concerning. But I thought we had some young kids out there and somewhat got it back halfway through the second half and most of the overtime as well.”
Finishing as the top seed gives the Terriers a first-round bye in the Patriot League Tournament. They will begin playoff action on Friday at Nickerson Field against the lowest-remaining seed, where they will look to see their regular season success translate into postseason play.
“In any knockout situation, you have to be good defensively,” Roberts said. “What we’ll concentrate on is just to be a little bit better in the midfield and be able to control things better, but overall, I think we’ll be in a good spot.”
Nick Neville is a junior in COM studying journalism and the Sports Editor of the Daily Free Press. When he's not making a paper on Beacon Street, you can catch him working as a Sports Correspondent for the Boston Globe or helping to produce BU's only professional sports talk show, Offsides. Follow him on Twitter: @n_nebs95
