Bench emerges as men’s soccer starts slow during Albany victory

One of the calling cards of a strong team is its ability to grind out a result when the run of play sways towards the opponent.

For the Boston University men’s soccer team, this rang true in its 3-0 victory over the University at Albany on Tuesday evening.

While both teams maintained offensively ambitious attacks, the Terriers (10-3-1, 4-0-1 Patriot League) struggled to deal with the Great Danes’ (7-7-1) early onslaughts. Whether it was the strong hold-up play of forward Jake Barros or the deceptively slick dribbling skills of forward Afonso Pinheiro, the first 30 minutes tested BU’s defensive resolve.

“It took us a second to adjust with [senior defender] Jeroen [Blugh] out, but it was really good how everyone worked off of each other and got comfortable, even though the first 30 minutes were shaky,” said sophomore midfielder Adam Sheikali.

With two key substitutions, the run of play drastically shifted in BU’s favor, as BU coach Neil Roberts’ squad capitalized on Albany’s questionable shape at the back. Sophomore forward Danny Foen rocketed a strike into the far-side netting in the 32nd minute, and sophomore defender Eric Udelson benefited from a fortuitous deflection in the 55th minute that left goalkeeper Danny Vitiello in no-man’s land.

Admittedly, Foen and Udelson are seldom scoring threats for the Terriers, as they have only played in a combined 10 matches. According to Roberts, it is a telling sign when a wide array of players can thrust his team out of a rut.

“This group works very hard, they train very well,” Roberts said. “Training is exciting and every training session is like what you see tonight with the intensity.

“All these kids are getting better and we had to plug them in, and they did a good job,” Roberts added. “Eric Udelson did a good job, [freshman defender] Ben [Valek] came back from his injuries and is doing a good job, so it makes your job easier when you can plug guys in … and still do a pretty good job.”

Perhaps most impressively, BU’s commitment and determination was inspired by a young squad with little NCAA experience. In total, 10 underclassmen rode the waves of uncertainty to quell Albany’s early dominance.

Specifically, Valek and fellow freshman defender David Riccio repeatedly stymied the likes of Barros and Pinheiro. Meanwhile, the tireless running of freshman midfielders Magnus Benediktsson and T.J. Butzke limited Albany’s possession-oriented approach .

“T.J. and Magnus didn’t show up on the scoresheet maybe, but they did a good job coming in for [sophomore midfielder] Anthony [Viteri] and trying to give us energy and keep the ball moving for us,” Roberts said. “They’re learning and they’re getting there, but that was a good performance from them.”

There were moments in Tuesday’s match where it appeared as though the Great Danes could sneak out of Nickerson Field with a win. However, much like one would expect of a team that sits atop the Patriot League standings, BU did not allow nervous spells to gather too much momentum.

Instead, the Terriers fought back, carried out their game plan and rode their depth to their fifth home victory of the year.

“The first 30 minutes were not very good, but we showed resilience and calmed down a little bit and got back to the basics and then built our way up from that,” Sheikali said. “After we put the first goal in, our confidence just boosted and we continued to pressure. That’s how we got the second and third, so we definitely showed a lot of resilience.”