Don’t tell the Boston University men’s soccer team baseball is the only “game of inches.”
Or for that matter, the only game where the officiating isn’t aided by some sort of instant replay technology. Because you certainly can bet that coach Neil Roberts would have hurled the red flag the length of the field after his team thought they had taken a 1-0 lead in Sunday’s game against Stony Brook University.
“It was a corner kick where a lot of people were in front and the ball went by the keeper who reached back to get it,” Roberts said of the play in question. “Where I was, I couldn’t see that well, but obviously the players thought it was in. That’s how close we are right now. Our shots are hitting post, or getting pulled off the line, but it’s coming along. We thought we had a goal but the linesmen didn’t and that’s just an unlucky break we had to deal with.”
The goal, of course, wasn’t counted and the Terriers (6-3-4, 1-2-1 America East) lost back-to-back games for the first time this year, falling victim to yet another late goal and losing 1-0 to the Seawolves (5-9-0, 2-2-0 AE).
That wasn’t the only questionable play that occurred Sunday on Long Island, however.
“[SBU junior goalkeeper Rich Skoblicki] came out of the goal to save a breakaway shot but he saved it out of the penalty box,” Roberts said. “Most time it’s a red card, but this time it wasn’t. I think we could have handled that better.”
Meanwhile, four Terriers received yellow cards in the game-their highest caution total all season.
“The disappointing thing was that we lost our composure. Normally throughout the year we’ve done a good job of controlling those situations, but we really didn’t this time,” Roberts said. “There were a lot of yellow cards and that shows some frustration was building. When human things going against us, we’ve gotta show we can control the situation.”
Unfortunately, BU didn’t manage to regain that composure and allowed freshman Oscar Leis to become the hero for the Seawolves. The Ozone Park, N.Y., native blasted a 25-yard free kick past the outstretched arms of BU goalkeeper Zach Riffett for the only goal of the game at 79:04.
After two league losses in a row, the frustration is beginning to set in for BU.
“Frustrating is putting it mildly, I guess,” Roberts said. “The game had a lot of different things in it. It kinda took on a life of its own. I wouldn’t say we played our best, but they didn’t play awful either. They came out very spirited and it closed things down on us.”
The Terriers once again controlled the tempo of the game, but couldn’t find the back of the net. Sophomore forward Neil Hlavaty led the team with five shots on goal.
“We really started to apply pressure in the second half,” Roberts said. “Petur [Sigurdsson] came through a couple of times. We’re getting close. We just gotta keep plugging away. It’s coming, whether it was against UNH or Stony Brook, the chances were there, especially off the set plays.”
After escaping an extremely difficult non-conference schedule relatively unscathed, the Terriers have now dropped to 1-2-1 in conference play.
“Obviously there’s more at stake in conference,” Roberts said. “Obviously the play is very different. There are more different situations, but that’s the game. That’s soccer-lots of different styles and adjustments. You just have to try and get [the other team] to play your style of game.
“I think that teams in our conference always get excited to play us,” Roberts added. “I don’t want say it’s jealously, but a lot of people wish they were at BU. It gives us motivation. You wanna be the big team on the schedule and that’s certainly the way we want it.”
The reverse will probably be true this Wednesday when the University of Vermont comes to town. The Catamounts currently sit atop the conference with a record of 4-0-1, 7-4-3 overall.
“It was important for us to come out strong in the other games as well and I think it we did,” Roberts said. “It’s getting down to the time where we have to get the results. If we stay confident, knowing that it will break for us-and it has before this year-it will again. Wednesday night we’ll have our hands full.
“You can’t raise the white flag after one bad week,” Roberts added.
Wednesday’s result could change the color of that flag in a hurry.