In the second Patriot League Tournament semifinal of the day, the Boston University men’s soccer team went head-to-head with American University Friday night for the chance to face Lehigh University in Sunday’s final.
While the Terriers (12-5-2, 6-1-2 Patriot League) produced a plethora of chances, especially in the second half, defensive miscues in the first half led to a couple of Eagle (14-5-3, 5-2-2 Patriot League) goals, eliminating the Terriers from the Patriot League Tournament in a 2-0 decision.
While the Terriers were the No. 2 seed and the Eagles No. 3, American was arguably the best Patriot League team on paper during the regular season. Coming into Friday’s match, American led the Patriot League with 5.8 points per game and goals-against average with a 0.72 mark. Early on, the Eagles showed off their league-best offense.
In the fifth minute, Eagle forward Vinny Barone capitalized on a crucial error by the Terriers’ junior goalkeeper Matt Gilbert. Gilbert ran off his line to try to rein in a set piece, but missed. The ball fell to the ground where Barone swooped in and buried it in the open net, giving the Eagles the early advantage.
For much of the first half, the Eagles controlled the game. Not only were they getting the bulk of the scoring opportunities, but they also possessed the ball well on the Terriers’ side of the field.
BU did have a few opportunities, including a 10th-minute shot from junior forward Felix De Bona which sailed well over the crossbar. But in the first half, it was all Eagles.
Defensive maladies struck the Terriers again in the 39th minute. Alone in the box and facing a strong attack, Gilbert again came off his line to try to take the ball out from under an Eagles attacker. The ball then ricocheted to the center of the box, where American forward Danny Kaiser shot it home past three BU defenders.
Senior defender Jeroen Blugh looked like he managed to get a foot on it, but it made no difference, as American doubled its lead, and Kaiser earned the first goal of his collegiate career.
The Terriers managed to squeeze a few scoring chances into the last few seconds of the half, but to no avail as American held a 2-0 lead heading into halftime.
The Terriers started to get the offense rolling in the second half, as they put pressure on the Eagles around the 50th minute. In the following 10 minutes the Terriers had a myriad of scoring opportunities. In the 52nd minute, sophomore midfielder Anthony Viteri had the Terriers’ best chance of the day when he sent a corner kick from sophomore midfielder David Amirani over the crossbar.
BU kept up the pressure. In those 10 minutes, the Terriers notched five corner kicks and 10 shots, including sophomore forward Danny Foen’s in the 56th minute, which forced American goalkeeper Dylan Hobert to make his first save of the day.
The Eagles staunch defense stepped up in the second half, even while under constant fire from the BU front line, and they held off BU and prevailed 2-0.
