In a matchup building off last season’s Patriot League Final, the Boston University men’s soccer team took on Lafayette College on Saturday to start a three-game homestand with hopes of finding their first win in five games.
Instead, they would draw for the seventh time this season, playing to a 1-1 result.
Taking some time to break out of their defensive half, the Terriers (1-3-7, 1-1-2 Patriot League) started to figure the Leopards (4-4-3, 1-2-1 PL) out. Junior forward Damola Salami recorded two shots on goal within the first half, the first of which was hit well, but went straight into Lafayette senior goalkeeper Griffin Huff.
Between those BU chances, the Leopards saw a promising opportunity for the lead slip just out of their hands as senior forward Lawrence Aydlett’s 26th-minute attempt deflected off the inside of the post at a lucky enough angle for the Terriers and kept the score blank.
Nearly 39 minutes in, however, junior defenders Ryan Lau and Quin DeLaMater stood over a golden opportunity free kick. Lau faked as DeLaMater snuck the shot beyond the wall and into the bottom right corner to put the Terriers up.
“He’ll always want to be in it,” BU head coach Kevin Nylen said of DeLaMater. “He’s got good pace, good range, and he can hit a ball a couple different ways, and so I think it plays itself out.”
DeLaMater’s sure presence on defense has been making an impact upfield as he is now tied for most goals with two. He leads the team in points and has also recorded a pair of assists.
The result of Saturday’s fixture seemed like it would fall into a repeat of last November’s game, as BU held its one-goal advantage over the Leopards for most of the second half.
The Terriers, tasked with guarding their lead for over 51 minutes, would face eight shots from Lafayette in the second half, including a near miss over the crossbar in the 77th minute, another high shot two minutes later and a straight shot into the crossbar soon after.
With under three and a half minutes remaining in the game, Lafayette eventually got past graduate goalkeeper Andrew Wike with a Roy Biegon header, which marked Biegeon’s fifth goal of the season for the Leopards.
“It’s tough,” Nylen said. “You have a good first half, [and] maybe the second half isn’t as clear from a performance from start to finish, but there’s still moments within the second half.”
This is the fifth game this season in which the Terriers have gone up early without seeing the result through. Splitting points makes it harder to catch the teams at the top of conference standings. With eight points apiece, Colgate University and Bucknell University now lead mid-table BU by three.
“Now we’ve got to focus on what’s next … take the point and build off of what we did well today and also identify a couple of moments, a couple of areas that we still need to sharpen up,” said Nylen.
For their final non-conference showing this season, the Terriers will host Harvard University on Tuesday at 7 p.m. before their final five Patriot League matchups.
