The Boston University men’s soccer team defeated Army West Point 3-2 Saturday afternoon, earning their first Patriot League win of the season.
The Black Knights (1-5-1, 0-1 PL) put the pressure on the Terriers (1-1-4, 1-0 PL) right away, as Army sophomore forward Gage Lyons scored within the first three minutes of the game.
Determined to match Army’s aggression, BU fought back with bared teeth and played consistently the rest of the game.
“We paid the price on the first [goal], and then I thought we did a good job to control possession,” head coach Kevin Nylen said. “But I thought in the second half, we asserted ourselves a little more and became a little more dangerous.”
In the first half, BU played well defensively after letting up the Army goal, but struggled offensively with one shot, while The Knights racked up three.
The Terriers were trailing by one goal going into the second half, but it only took six minutes after halftime for sophomore forward and Syracuse transfer Andrea Di Blasio to sneak the ball past the Army keeper and into the net off an assist from freshman forward Dylan Williams.
After spending two seasons at Syracuse University, Di Blasio arrived at BU in the spring and learned the importance of camaraderie.
“I came in, [and] they accepted me with open arms,” Di Blasio said. “The transition is difficult… but the boys around me helped me, and I come out here and I try to play for them.”
Still, the Terriers knew they had to keep building off their momentum to secure their first win.
Graduate goalkeeper Andrew Wike pulled out a strong defensive performance in the second half. He made three saves overall and kept the defense aligned.
“It’s just talking to the defense the whole time, talking to midfielders, saying, ‘Hey, lock in for five more minutes,’” Wike said of the final stretch. “Just letting them know, ‘Stay switched on for one more moment,’ because in soccer, you never know what can happen.”
While Wike continued to block, the offense kept their aggression strong. In the 65th minute, junior midfielder Diego Rived clinched his first goal of the season with an assist from junior forward Damola Salami.
Twelve minutes later, Di Blasio scored his second goal of the game with an impressive header fed by senior forward Andrew Rent and junior defender Quin DeLaMater.
With just under 30 minutes to go, the Black Knights composed themselves, and Lyons drove a goal past Wike, shrinking the score gap to one.
The pressure was on the Terriers once again, but they pulsed through with electric gameplay and energy, ultimately securing the win.
The Terriers will hit the road Tuesday Sept. 17 at 7 p.m. to face off against Brown University.
