Boston University men’s soccer shut out Colgate University 3-0 to open the season. The win secured head coach Kevin Nylen’s first victory with the Terriers at Beyer-Small ’76 Field Saturday.
“It’s an overall really good performance from start to finish,” Nylen said in a press conference Saturday. “A lot of guys got some really good minutes, so I’m really happy for the group.”
The Terriers’ (1-0-0) victory over the Raiders (0-2-0) was “a tale of two halves,” Nylen said. Both teams finished the first half with a clean sheet.
Although each team ended the game with five shots on goal, BU had none in the first half. Colgate had two scoring opportunities in the first 12 minutes, but BU senior goalkeeper Michael Stone blocked shots from midfielders sophomore Bobby Foose and freshman Justin Weiss, picking up two saves.
During halftime, Nylen said the team “made a couple little adjustments” in an effort to turn the tables — which they did, scoring three unanswered goals in the second half.
In the 50th minute, Terriers junior defender Gianluca Arlotti crossed the ball to sophomore forward Ronaldo Marshall, who chested it into the goal to put the Terriers up 1-0. Colgate senior goalkeeper Wilson Fitzgerald, who picked up two saves in the game, could not block the shot.
Just five minutes later, sophomore defender Ryan Lee, assisted by freshman midfielder Andrew Rent, fired the ball to the bottom left corner of the net in the 55th minute to make it 2-0 BU. Freshman midfielder Aidan Holmes added another goal with an assist from sophomore midfielder Marc Roura in the 76th minute.
All of BU’s goals were scored by new additions to the team. Nylen said while the entire team is new to him, he was happy with the new Terriers’ productivity.
“Quite frankly, I guess you could say every guy’s a newcomer because we’re the newcomers on the staff,” Nylen said. “Everybody’s a newcomer in terms of us being together and pushing forward. It was really good to see.”
Among the newcomers is freshman goalkeeper Andrew Wike, who took over in net for Stone in the second half and made three saves to preserve the shutout. Nylen said he was impressed with his goalies’ performances, as well as the overall team defense.
“If you get a clean sheet, of course that goes on the goalkeeper’s tally,” Nylen said, “but at the end of the day, that’s a collective team effort in terms of getting the result and keeping a clean sheet.”
Asked how the team could improve for next week’s match, Nylen said the team should better their performance at the start of their game and work on countering corner kicks and throw-ins from the opposition, as well as continuing to focus on possession and creating more scoring opportunities.
BU returns to Nickerson Field to host the College of the Holy Cross (0-1-0) Sunday at 5 p.m. Nylen said he wants to let the team enjoy their first win, but prepping for their next match is now their main focus.
“We now have to prepare for Holy Cross,” Nylen said, “and it’s less about the momentum and just more about us continuing to do the right things every day.”
