Boston University men’s soccer dismantled the College of the Holy Cross at Nickerson Field on Wednesday night, scoring early and often on their way to a statement 3-0 victory. It was the first time in 22 months that the Terriers (6-2-1, 3-0-0 Patriot League) have scored three goals in a game, and they did it in just over 20 minutes.
If graduate student midfielder Colin Innes and senior forward Eitan Rosen were the only two talking about a Patriot League championship after the game, they might not be alone anymore. BU leads the league as its only team with three in-conference wins, and with six wins overall, they’ve already matched last season’s win total.
“We’re having a lot of fun,” Rosen said.
He’s scored seven goals in his four years with the Terriers, with three of them coming in the team’s last two games.
“Everyone’s playing well,” Rosen said. “We’re just clicking, and I’m happy that I can be on the [receiving] end of that.”
Rosen shined throughout the night, making consistent runs in behind and asking questions of the Crusader (3-5-2, 1-1-1 PL) defense. Senior midfielder Andrew Rent was lively alongside him. His hold-up play and relentless pressing produced chances in both halves.
No one, however, shined brighter than Innes, who scored once and assisted twice in his most productive performance of the season.
“I haven’t contributed to as many goals as I would have liked so far this season,” Innes said. “My coaches and teammates have really reiterated ‘stay the course, keep playing well, keep working hard,’ and today it all came to fruition.”
Positioned on the left side of a midfield diamond, Innes was a creative force all game. He split defensive lines with passes to the forwards ahead of him, which led to Rosen’s opener. He was a nightmare with the ball at his feet, skillfully stepping past defenders to put the cross in for the Terriers’ second. In the open field, he glided past defenders to score BU’s third himself.
“It feels good to help the team and contribute to a win,” Innes said.
Innes joined Rosen, Rent and graduate student midfielder Quinn Matulis to form an attacking quartet that have each spent at least three seasons with the program. Together, they bring over 11,000 minutes of experience under head coach Kevin Nylen.
“They’ve now continued to settle in with what we’ve asked them to do,” Nylen said. “They like to play with one another, they like to identify spaces, they work off of one another pretty well.”
Rosen and Rent led the line with Matulis behind. Innes roamed the center of the field, picking up the ball just about everywhere. Together, they disassembled a Holy Cross team that was unbeaten in their last three in just 20 minutes.
“When you’re playing with your best friends, it makes everything easy,” Innes said.
BU’s attack left little work for its defense, but Nylen’s back four was stout throughout the 90 minutes. Holy Cross failed to record a shot on goal, and a Terrier defense that rotated players throughout the second half supported forward moves.
Senior defender Ryan Lee was particularly bright, making a box-to-box run in the 62nd minute that nearly became BU’s fourth goal. Despite being comfortably three goals ahead, the Terriers remained eager.
“We’ve struggled this year. We score early and we let teams back into it,” Innes said. “When we went into [the] half [up] 3-0, we said this is gonna be our first 90-minute game, we’re gonna play a complete game.”
With three straight PL wins to open a nine game in-conference slate, the Terriers have established themselves as an early Patriot League favorite. BU continues a three-game homestand on Saturday when they host Colgate University at 1 p.m.
“My job is to keep them humble,” Nylen said. “Now we have to come back and prepare for a really good side in Colgate who took it to us last year.”
Nylen may be looking no further than Colgate — who dominated BU to the tune of a 3-0 shutout last season — but Innes and Rosen are looking further.
“We want to win the league,” Innes said. “It’s a ring or nothing for us.”
