Aidan Bone wasn’t always the flashiest on the field, but his 2024 season marked a modest breakout five years overdue, as the Boston University men’s soccer team showed up for three postseasons in three years.
When Bone was deciding on schools, he had BU on his radar early, given his father is Hall of Fame inductee and all-time leading goalscorer Nick Bone.
The younger Bone committed in October 2019, expecting to play under former head coach Neil Roberts, just as his dad did, lifting four conference trophies from 1994-97.
“I told [Aidan] that this was his time,” Nick Bone said. “I was purely a parent, father and fan of the team, and I wanted this to be his own.”
That November, Roberts announced his retirement, ending a 40-year career at BU. The following January, Kevin Nylen took the reins and then came the pandemic.
Bone had to adjust his expectations of the program and his position in it while sports were canceled and later postponed until the spring of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
That first run was forgettable for Bone, who didn’t play in the season’s four games, and unremarkable for the team, which missed out on the postseason for a second year running.
As sports returned to normal that fall, Bone was thrown another curveball.
“Coach Nylen said to me, ‘You’re gonna be a striker now,’” Bone said. “I played [midfield] my entire life and now I’m going to switch positions all of a sudden.”
It was a decision that Nylen’s staff made for the sake of their system at that point, and Bone had to adjust to be a part of it.
“He was asked to do X, Y and Z, and he did,” Nylen said. “He came about his business every day, even though probably he had a lot of questions.”
Bone’s first career goal came in 2021, though he hadn’t fully settled in yet.
A second goal wouldn’t follow for two years, as a meniscus tear limited Bone to five goalless appearances in 2022 while BU got back into the postseason.
“I was on the sideline rooting for the team, but thinking in the back of my head, ‘I want to be here and be a contributing factor next year,’” Bone said. “I had one year left at that point. I didn’t know if I would take a fifth year.”
Both the team and Bone showed growth at the start of the 2023 season, especially after Bone’s 89th-minute game-winner against UAlbany.
The Terriers went undefeated for the following nine home games, eying the PL final.
With a trophy on the line, Bone took 19 minutes off the bench to serve the assist on the title-clinching goal.
“My senior year, I realized I had fallen back in love with the sport and I felt like I had missed out on some of my college career,” he said. “To be able to add another year to the experience was a nice thing.”
In 2024, Bone’s fifth year, the team ran into a pattern of injury problems, but with just 17 guaranteed games left in his soccer career, Bone stayed healthy.
“We didn’t know we were going to have an injury [to Alex Bonnington] and that [Bone] was going to have to take the brunt of the minutes, and he did it in typical Aidan fashion: He worked hard, came every day and did his job,” Nylen said. “He took it in stride, and it was massive for our group.”
With increased opportunities, Bone tripled his career goal count, scoring four while nearly doubling his minutes as a go-to for Nylen, which served as a marked growth from the uncertainty of playing under a different coaching staff than his starting year.
Bone converted the final two goals of his season –– and career –– on senior day at his home field with family present.
“It was a really special day for the family and it was a nice capstone for his career,” Nick Bone said.
Though this first-career brace only yielded a draw, it secured a crucial point in the most competitive PL landscape since BU joined in 2013.
Unfortunately, the semifinal two weeks later would be the end for Bone and eight teammates despite the team’s dominance in those last 90 minutes.
“My time at BU is synonymous with [those players],” Nylen said of Bone’s recruiting class. “I love that group. I’m going to immensely miss them … I understand [it’s] the process of life, but it makes me sad that I won’t be on the field with them for the first time in a preseason next fall.”
Bone shared a similar sentiment.
“It’s been an absolute privilege to be a part of the program, especially with the guys that have been here since the beginning,” he said. “It was one of the best experiences of my life, and if I could do it all over again, I would in a heartbeat.”
