The Boston University men’s soccer team captured a 1-0 victory on Saturday vs. Lafayette College at Nickerson Field, largely due to the play of senior goalkeeper Matt Gilbert.
It was a meaningful win for the Terriers (4-5-2, 1-2-2 Patriot League), who have been struggling as of late. The win snaps a five-match winless streak, and marks BU’s first Patriot League victory of the season.
The Terriers only needed one goal to fend off the Leopards (6-7-1, 0-1-0 Patriot League),who failed to score despite outshooting the Terriers 18-14, including an 8-4 margin in the second half.
The lone scorer for BU was senior forward Felix De Bona, who netted his sixth goal of the season in the 18th minute, eclipsing junior midfielder Anthony Viteri as the Terriers’ leading scorer.
While proud of De Bona and the rest of the offensive attack on Saturday, Roberts acknowledged that Gilbert was instrumental in the win.
“[Gilbert’s] been struggling a bit, it’s good to see him have a good game,” Roberts said. “He needed to win a game for us, which he did.”
Gilbert, who was named to the Patriot League All-Conference First Team a season ago, has allowed at least two goals in four of the past five games, three of which were losses. He has been somewhat unlucky, though, as despite owning the second-worst goals-against average in the league at 1.50, he’s saved the third-most shots in the conference.
“I don’t think I’ve been playing to my full potential,” Gilbert said. “Today was a good start. If you play right at the end of the season, that’s when it matters most.”
While far from terrible, Gilbert’s play in recent games has been unfamiliar to his early season success.
Early in the season, Gilbert allowed just six goals in the opening five matches, leading the team to three victories and two shutouts. The Terriers hope that Gilbert’s play on Saturday will spark the team to more victories, given that the Patriot League Tournament is rapidly approaching.
While Saturday’s victory was full of optimism, there was one dark moment for the Terriers, as Viteri, one of BU’s key offensive contributors, was injured in a head-to-head collision in the 80th minute. Roberts was quick to rule out Viteri for the next game.
“It was a collision,” Roberts said. “It might have been him and [sophomore midfielder] Nick [Wieners], it might’ve been him and one of their guys, who knows, but it wasn’t good.”
Losing Viteri will undoubtedly be difficult for the Terriers, but Gilbert maintained that similar to how it has been all season long, it will take a team effort to replace his production.
“We have a deep bench, and we’ll be able to get people in there,” Gilbert said. “Maybe more of a rotation full of guys will really work hard for us. All we need is 100 percent effort and we’ll be fine.”
The Terriers host Dartmouth College on Tuesday, and then follow that up with two league opponents in Lehigh University and the College of the Holy Cross. Like BU, both the Mountain Hawks (4-8-1, 1-4 Patriot League) and the Crusaders (5-6-2, 1-2-2 Patriot League) have struggled in league play, so these games are prime opportunities for the Terriers to climb up the Patriot League standings.
Despite the recent struggles, it’s clear that Robert’s focus is the same: win games, regardless of the circumstances.
“It’s just two points,” Roberts said. “We’ve got to get points; it doesn’t matter where they come from.”
