Despite the return of key players and some late heroics, the Boston University men’s soccer team could not overcome Lehigh University’s diverse offense as it dropped its first Patriot League match of the season in overtime 3-2.
The Terriers (10-4-1, 4-1-1 Patriot League) started the game without many of their regulars including sophomore midfielder Anthony Viteri, senior defender Jeroen Blugh and sophomore midfielder David Amirani, and their play suffered because of it.
In the beginning of the first half, Lehigh (9-5-1, 3-3 Patriot League) utilized the Patriot League’s leader in points — senior Jamie Luchini — to get deep into Terrier territory on multiple occasions.
On the offensive end of things, freshman midfielders Magnus Benediktsson and T.J. Butzke, and junior forward Mark Wadid had trouble getting through the reigning Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week in junior Justin Worley and the rest of the Mountain Hawk defense.
In the 17th minute, Benediktsson missed one of the Terriers’ best opportunities of the day when he sent a cross over the crossbar while under limited pressure in the box.
In the 26th minute, Luchini took a feed from forward Doyle Tuvesson and put it past junior goalkeeper Matt Gilbert, but junior midfielder David Asbjornsson swooped in and deflect it away. However, Luchini collected the rebound and put it in to bring Lehigh up 1-0.
During much of the first half, the Mountain Hawks’ midfield extinguished any opportunity the Terriers had. While the team likes to utilize short, quick passes at times, that aspect of its game was taken away by the Lehigh defense. BU coach Neil Roberts said he thought the Lehigh defense did well enough to win.
“I thought we did somewhat okay with it but not great,” Roberts said on his team’s attack. “We didn’t get a lot of good looks, but I thought we got enough good looks to win the game.”
In the 42nd minute, the Terriers got one at last. Off a poor Lehigh clearance, the ball ricocheted off another Lehigh player’s head, taking a favorable bounce into the Mountain Hawks’ own territory. There, Butzke crossed for what looked like sophomore forward Danny Foen’s third goal in as many games, but it would later be ruled an own goal.
The teams entered the half knotted at one.
Luchini continued wreaking havoc for the Moutain Hawks in the second half, despite the Terriers having Blugh back on defense. In the 52nd minute, he chipped a ball just over Gilbert’s head, but Gilbert got enough of a hand on it to make it spin out of bounds.
Less than a minute later, however, freshman Mark Forrest took advantage of poor BU passing in the box, resulting in a 2-1 Mountain Hawk lead.
Lehigh was seven minutes away from walking away with a win when junior forward Felix De Bona equalized in the 83rd minute off a Wadid cross. It was De Bona’s first goal since Oct. 3 at American University, and it could not have come at a better time. His late game goal sent the game into overtime despite sloppy play by both teams in the last minutes.
Overtime did not last long. Just 57 seconds into the extra period, the BU defense followed a poor turnover with a breakdown against Tuvesson, who buried his chance, giving Lehigh the victory.
Despite the loss, Roberts said he was pleased with his team’s willingness to fight back.
“It’s credit to them to come back. They keep fighting,” Roberts said. “We’ve been doing that all year and it finally caught us. You can only do it so many times before a break goes their way.”
