Saturday’s 2-2 draw with American University started with a Senior Day ceremony honoring the nine seniors and graduate students of the Boston University men’s soccer team.
Goalkeeper Andrew Wike, defenders Andrew Soczynski and Neal Carlson, midfielders Aidan Holmes, Andrew Rent, Kevin Torres and Daniel Kim, and forwards Tyler Johnson and Aidan Bone were all of those honored Saturday.
Some of those honored have been on the team since head coach Kevin Nylen’s first season in 2020. They watched the program grow from a coaching transition and disappointing results to being defending conference champions with confident sights on the postseason once again.
“Four of those guys came in 2020, and so to see them now as super seniors, as we call them, it’s been great to see them mature and be ambassadors in major parts of our program,” Nylen said.
Despite the pregame celebration, the Eagles (4-5-6, 3-2-2 Patriot League) went up first with a free kick opportunity that went off a BU defender for an own-goal 18 minutes in.
The Terriers (3-3-9, 3-1-3 PL) pushed back with Torres placing a shot just off target, and then ten minutes later, Bone got one back on his Senior Day to put the Terriers on equal footing once again.
“[Alex] Bonnington went down hurt early in the season … and then a lot more falls on Aidan [Bone] in terms of minutes,” Nylen said. “But Bone has been awesome this year, so I’m really happy to see his hard work paying off in his senior campaign.”
Building on the positive momentum, junior defender Quin DeLaMater and junior midfielder Diego Rived necessitated a pair of saves by American junior goalkeeper Matthew Tibbetts, though they didn’t find an opportunity before the break.
American opened the second half with a direct free kick that went just clear over the crossbar. Ten minutes later, they reestablished their lead when Eagle graduate midfielder Ethan Boyle successfully took on Wike.
Soon after, a red card assessed on American senior defender Nicholas Shirley gave the Terriers a one-man advantage and a free kick on the outskirts of the 18-yard box. But what appeared to be another equalizer was called back.
In protest of that decision and another one following, Nylen’s dissent received a yellow card, the sixth for the team on the day.
After this point, the Terriers recorded 11 shots including midfielder Rived’s strike off the post and another off the crossbar with nearly seven minutes remaining.
An attack-minded substitution put Bone back on the pitch alongside junior forward Bonnington between Rived’s near-misses. Bone made the most of his second stint when he, assisted by Bonnington and Rived, equalized yet again on the edge of the final 120 seconds for his first-career brace.
“In my entire career, goals have been few and between, but to be able to do it on Senior [Day] and salvage a draw in the end was a really good feeling,” Bone said.
The fifth-year Terrier has seen more minutes and starts this year than in any season past, more than doubling his career goals tally with four in 14 games, previously with just two in 35, to clearly find his place in Nylen’s squad.
“I wasn’t even one of Nylen’s recruits when I first showed up here, and I was worried that I wouldn’t be one of his guys,” Bone said. “But he’s really taken me under his wing since then, and I’ve really seen the development of the team from a personal standpoint and a team standpoint.”
Bone’s quality day was matched by many of his teammates as the Terriers outshot the Eagles 19-3, forced seven saves and showed impressive grit.
“There might have been more on the table, but we gotta move forward and prepare for Navy,” Nylen said.
As it stands now, Bucknell University leads the conference on 14 points, with BU in second on 12. Five teams are within two points of the Terriers.
The end of the regular season is taking shape with two more road challenges, the next at the United States Naval Academy on Friday at 7 p.m. before Holy Cross invites the Terriers for a Turnpike Trophy contest Nov. 5.
