Missed opportunities abounded for both Sunday afternoon foes, as the Patriot League season opener between the Boston University men’s soccer team and Bucknell University ended in a frustrating 1-1 draw.
In the first half, the Bison (3-3-2, 0-0-1 Patriot League) looked to take an early advantage against a Terrier (4-2-1, 0-0-1 Patriot League) defense that was without freshman defender Ben Valek.
In the fifth minute, senior Jesse Klug missed a golden opportunity as junior goalkeeper Matt Gilbert came off his line and tripped. Sophomore midfielder David Amirani, who started in place of Valek, came in at the last second to sweep the ball out from under him.
Minutes later, Klug went down after a hard but clean tackle from sophomore midfielder Anthony Viteri. Klug, arguably the Bison’s greatest offensive threat, later exited the game with a right foot injury and was seen in a boot and crutches at halftime.
Klug’s classmate, midfielder Chris Thorsheim, took over for Bucknell, but the BU back line, ranked seventh in the Patriot League in goals against average (1.10), remained fortified. Thorsheim mustered all four of the Bison’s first half shots in the first 15 minutes, including one that Gilbert saved from his backside as well as his 15th-minute, penalty-kick goal.
However, over the final 30 minutes of the first half, the Terriers’ defense put up a wall. In addition to not allowing a shot, it hardly allowed any chances on its own end, and much of that had to do with the play of senior defender Jeroen Blugh. The center back was the key player for the Terriers on Sunday.
He negated the Bison’ attacks and created plays, especially off the corner kick. In the 24th minute, the Trinidad native flew inches above everyone in the box while on the run and connected for an incredible header that gave Bucknell goalkeeper Mike Lansing no chance.
Following his first goal of the season, Blugh immediately ran to the sideline to point to his family in the stands. He then set himself back up on defense before anyone else, ready for the next play.
“When I went up for the header, I thought about [my parents] as soon as I scored,” Blugh said. “That was definitely some extra motivation.”
The Terriers dominated the offensive chances the rest of the game, limiting Bucknell to just two shots in the second half. While the Terriers tallied 11 in the latter frame, the bulk of their efforts were slow rollers into the hands of Lansing.
Senior Zack Rockmore stabilized the Bison on the defensive front all game long. Junior forward Felix De Bona tried on many occasions to get by Rockmore, but the Boston College transfer had a formidable size advantage and shut him down.
While BU coach Neil Roberts said he was frustrated with the ultimate result of the game, he had many good things to say about his team’s play.
“We’re a young group, and I like the way that we out-competed them,” Roberts said. “I thought we won the battles. At the beginning they got the goal, we came back, then it was kind of a battle and we out-battled them. It ended up [being] just us trying to get the goal … It would have been nice to get the goal, but I think this is a definite step forward.”
Overall, the Terriers played a good game against a senior-heavy team that knocked them out of the Patriot League Tournament last season. They outshot the Bison 28-9 through 110 minutes, but their defense showed the most improvement. Roberts made it a point to mention the play of senior midfielder Richie Robinson, who played all but seven minutes on Sunday.
“Any chance was going to come off a counterattack because they conceded so many plays back and they conceded so much space to us,” Roberts said. “So we told Richie Robinson that that’s his responsibility, to make sure that didn’t happen, and Richie’s playing really well.”
But overall, Roberts said he was pleased with the well-rounded effort that his team put forth despite the less-than-ideal outcome.
“We were physical when we needed to be, we played when we needed to be,” he said. “It’s just unfortunate that we couldn’t get the goal.”
