The No. 14 Boston University men’s soccer team was handed a crushing 1-0 loss Friday night at Nickerson Field courtesy of cross-town rival Boston College. The loss came in front 1,907 fans and the cameras of Fox Soccer Channel.
The Terriers (4-2-1), did bounce back to a degree with a 1-0 win at Columbia University Sunday afternoon.
On Friday, BC sophmore Edvin Worley scored the game-winning goal for the Eagles (3-3-0) in the 57th minute. Though it took BC until the second half to finally score, the Eagles dominated the Terriers for much of the game.
BC gave the Terriers very few good opportunities to put quality shots on goal. Any attack the Terriers attempted was met by the swarming Eagles’ defense. BU did outshoot BC, 13-10, but the Terriers’ shots were always contested.
BU sophomore Michael Bustamante attributed the Eagles’ good defense to a poor showing by the Terrier offense.
‘I don’t think it was their defense that stopped us,’ he said. ‘It was our ball movement. We weren’t fast enough. We got away from our game.”
One of BU’s best chances to score in the first half was off the foot of junior Aaron O’Neal at 18:13. The junior got the ball at the left corner of the penalty box and fired a shot that bounced off the top crossbar. O’Neal’s near goal would be the Terriers’ only good opportunity to score for the rest of the game.
‘ Sophomore Stephen Knox attempted to follow up his gaming-winning goal against St. John’s in the previous game with a good chance at 25:03. Streaking towards the goal from the right side of the field, Knox took a shot directly at the BC goaltender. The shot bounced off the goaltender’s chest and squeezed through his legs, but he scooped the ball before BU could take advantage of his mistake.
Both teams were solid defensively in the first half. The Terriers and Eagles each had several scoring opportunities that the opposing defense always seemed to cancel out.
The Eagles’ best scoring chances came in the middle of the first half. At 14:47, a BC attacker rolled up on the right side of the box and connected with his teammate who was alone in front of the goal. The shot skidded across the ground to the sliding Davidsson, who picked up the save easily.
Bustamante showed off his agility at 16:06, blowing through two Eagle defenders towards the goal. Just as the sophomore was getting ready to fire a shot, he was intercepted by a third BC defender. Despite the failed scoring attempt, Bustamante’s play was key to finding a weakness in the Eagles’ defense -‘-‘- taking on three defenders at once, Bustamante was setting up his other teammates for success.
‘It was a tough game, but we pretty much lost it ourselves,’ Bustamante said of the Terriers efforts on offense. ‘They came prepared and stepped it up.’
The loss came less than a week after the Terriers knocked of No. 1 St. John’s University (2-1-2), 1-0.
The Terriers’ offense continued to struggle against Columbia (1-4-0). Several early scoring chances were nullified by the Lion’s defense. Senior Ryan Scully deflected a header from the Terriers senior Samuel Appiah in the 11th minute.
BU continued to apply pressure to the Lions strained defense and finally found a way to score at the 26th minute. As a Columbia defender attempted to clear the ball on the left side of the goal, he mishandled it and sent the ball flying over his own goalkeeper’s head and into the right side of the net.
BU’s next game is against the College of the Holy Cross at Nickerson Field at 7 p.m. on Sept. 23.
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