The Boston University men’s soccer team drew 1-1 against Harvard University in a hard-fought non-conference game on Tuesday night in Allston, representing a seven-game unbeaten streak for the Terriers (7-2-3, 4-0-1 Patriot League).
Ending even on shots on target and saves, neither side had overwhelming control of the game for more than a few minutes at a time. The first goal from BU came only after a great deal of pressure from the Crimson (2-3-6) that kept much of the play centered around the Terriers’ 18-yard box in the opening minutes.
It was in the 10th minute when freshman midfielder Jason Zacarias found graduate student midfielder Colin Innes in space, who then was able to penetrate the Harvard backline with a pass fed to the feet of sophomore forward Alex Bonnington to put the Terriers on top.
“The first few minutes were quite tough,” Bonnington said. “Once we started to get the ball down, started playing, gaps started to open and, luckily, I took the chance.”
For the Terriers, a high degree of depth gives head coach Kevin Nylen plenty of quality options when it comes to setting the lineup game after game. On Tuesday, that depth included notching a third start for first-year Zacarias, one of the contributors to BU’s lone goal.
“Playing with the confidence [the coaches] give me helps me a lot. I can express myself on the field,” Zacarias said. “I feel like I was finding good pockets today.”
Midway through the first half, the Crimson intercepted a pass in a threatening area, leaving senior defender Griffin Roach to make a desperate stop that gifted a free kick to Harvard. Leading goalscorer, junior forward Alessandro Arlotti, who is the younger brother of BU soccer graduate Gianluca Arlotti, gave the Ivy League athlete a new total of three goals and 10 points on the season.
With the game once again on even footing, the Terriers had to battle to break down Harvard for over an hour to no avail.
“After you go up one-nil, you have to be a little better,” Nylen said. “It was a little frantic at times, and that’s on us.”
The Terriers have not figured out the Crimson at Jordan Field in the last five games dating back to 2011, well before the tenure of Nylen or any current players on the team.
Nevertheless, the break in both homefield and conference play proved valuable in shifting BU’s approach following a few high-margin home victories that were part of a season-long unbeaten streak at Nickerson Field while the team is only 2-2-2 on the road.
“We train and play every day on Nickerson … and we just got that confidence going in at home,” Bonnington said. “We’re trying to improve our away form. Obviously, we’re not doing terrible, but we know we can improve on that.”
Starting with Saturday’s 1 p.m. game at Lafayette College, the Terriers will have three of their remaining four conference matchups on opponents’ turf, testing their ability to show up when away from Nickerson as the race for the regular-season title stays hot against Loyola Maryland.
“[A game like tonight’s] is good for us … A lot of guys played, and I never thought that the level dropped, so I was proud of the effort,” Nylen said. “We’ve identified a couple of the areas that we felt we were good in and how we can improve … Now we have to shift focus back to conference play.”
