The Boston University men’s soccer team ended its spring season with a bang Monday night, posting a 1-0 shutout victory over the New Hampshire Phantoms of the United Soccer League.
The competition was fierce under the lights at Nickerson Field, as the Terriers battled to redeem themselves from their lackluster showing against the University of Rhode Island last weekend.
“Rhode Island was our only poor performance of the spring,” said BU coach Neil Roberts referring to the team’s 0-0 draw Saturday afternoon.
Monday night, the Terriers did a complete 180, as they came out of the gates with a fire the Phantoms could not put out. Both teams boasted speed, agility and a tendency for fouls, but it was the Terriers who had the will to win.
Defense was the key to the Terriers’ success in the first half, as freshman Andrej Bjegovic and junior Ian Maio held down the back line, limiting New Hampshire’s Val Teixeira’s offensive attacks. Teixeira, easily Phantoms’ most aggressive player, caused problems for BU with his sometimes-unorthodox play.
But BU held its own against the Phantoms’ star. Sophomore Neil Hlavaty blocked a direct kick by Teixeira with his back on the 18-yard line, and Bjegovic, while being chased by Phantom forward Almir Barbosa, cut the ball to give a clean cross to sophomore Dan Schultz in the left corner.
“We did well and battled them,” Roberts said. “They got behind us a little in the first half, but we were able to limit their quality shots.”
The second half was marked by a stronger Terrier offense, which took advantage of the opportunities they failed to capitalize on during the first 45 minutes of play. Hlavaty shined up top, moving the ball to the corners and found freshman winger Shaun Taylor on numerous occasions.
“We changed our point of attack [in the second half]. We did a good job of opening it up and keeping out of the center,” Roberts said. “I saw some good things out there. We started finding Shaun up top and moved Dan Schultz back to center back. He battles and wins balls and made a good adjustment to the position.”
Fancy footwork from Taylor and Hlavaty dazzled the Phantoms’ defense and created opportunities that were not there for the Terriers in the first half. They produced shot after shot, forcing New Hampshire’s defense to give up corner kicks and allowing BU to keep the ball in their end of the field.
With 11 minutes left, one of those corner kicks paid off, as junior co-captain-to-be Derek Puerta knocked a header over the Phantoms’ keeper to notch the eventual game-winner. New Hampshire tried to respond when forward Narciso Fernandes dove into the BU goal on a header attempt to tie the game. But BU continued to battle, mixing their strong defense with quick offense to keep the Phantoms in the dark.
Roberts was pleased with the performance of his young team — especially walk-on freshman goalie Jason Lucas, who earned his first win in his first game — against experienced, professional players.
“[Lucas] worked hard during the winter and played well,” Roberts said. “We were happy with what we saw.”
Phantoms General Manager Jim Dedeus said he was impressed with BU’s performance, all around.
“They played well,” Dedeus said. “We’ve played 10 college and university teams, and BU is good competition.”