The Boston University men’s soccer team’s season came to a dramatic end after a loss in penalty shootouts against Bucknell University in the quarterfinal round of the Patriot League Tournament on Tuesday night at Nickerson Field. The score after a tightly contested 90 minutes and two overtime periods was 1-1, leading to a shootout that the Bison (7-10-3, 4-4-1 Patriot League) won with a 4-1 showing.
The game was extremely tight throughout and the final score could have gone either way.
Senior goalkeeper Matt Gilbert, who made seven saves, was outstanding in net for the Terriers. The only goal he surrendered came courtesy of Bucknell freshman Quinn Bredin, who netted his first collegiate goal, in the 29th minute. The ball bounced around in the box following a corner kick and was headed in by Bredin.
First-Team All-Patriot League junior midfielder Anthony Viteri netted the equalizer in the 79th minute following a header from junior midfielder David Amirami. The goal was assisted by senior forward Felix De Bona after he gained possession of the jump ball and found Viteri, who put it past Bucknell goalkeeper Ryan Ott.
“The ball just got over the top; me and Felix worked on that in practice a bunch of times where he just lays it off and I just hit it one time,” Viteri said of his goal. “Big teams come up in big situations, but it was just unfortunate we lost in penalties.”
After a tied 90 minutes and 20 minutes of overtime play, the penalty shootout was dominated by the Bison. They were able to score on all four of their chances, while BU only could convert on one of three attempts.
BU head coach Neil Roberts was disheartened to see his players put so much effort in, only to come away with such a narrow defeat.
“It’s disappointing, but give Bucknell credit,” Roberts said. “They defended well, they fought hard and again, we gave up the early goal and spent a lot of energy to get the equalizer. I give my guys credit, they fought hard and trying to win the game. I thought we played much better the last half of the season, we just couldn’t get the goals.”
Bison sophomore Ott, who also played practically a flawless game, commended the efforts of fellow goalkeeper Gilbert, who has been a stalwart in net all season long for BU.
“He played a hell of game, that’s one of the best goalkeeping performances I’ve seen in my entire life,” Ott said. “Props to that kid, I hope he goes very far.”
For Viteri, who has been one of the stronger players in Division 1 soccer this season when healthy, BU has been about more than just soccer.
“Growing up I’ve always played on very competitive teams and only played for coaches that only care how you perform, but I feel like this team is completely different, and I am so happy that I transferred here,” Viteri said. “I have a head coach who actually cares about how I am doing as a person, we are all best friends with each other and I’ve never had that kind of dynamic before and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
The Terriers put up a solid fight, rattling off three straight wins to make the postseason, but in the end it wasn’t enough. Roberts is proud of his team’s efforts this season despite its offensive struggles.
“It’s a good group of guys,” Roberts said. “That’s the disappointing thing when it ends like this. We just struggled getting the goals.”
