Terriers’ Comeback Falls Short Against Agile Eagles

By: David Souza

BOSTON — In front of a record crowd of 7,379 at Nickerson Field, the Terriers looked for their second win of their season last night against Green Line rival Boston College.

The stands were a sea of scarlet, and the ninth annual Terrier Tailgate was a rousing success in welcoming back many Terriers to Commonwealth Avenue.

But Simon Enstrom, the Sweedish Boston College Freshman, was not there for the pomp and circumstance. He was there to win, and a two-goal effort from Enstrom, including a dagger in the 79th minute, was enough to keep Boston University’s 19-year long dry spell against Boston College at Nickerson Field alive.

Both teams sprinted out of the gate scoring a total of three goals in the first 16 minutes. BC’s Idrissa Bangura drew first blood for the Eagles, as the sophomore took a cross from the top of the pitch from his teammate Mohammed Moro and headed the ball past the outstretched hands of the Terriers’ Matt Gilbert.

Anthony Viteri, the sophomore transfer from St. John’s, then evened up the score for BU by intercepting a pass attempt from an Eagles defender and moving in all alone on BC goalkeeper Cedric Saladin. The Flushing, New York native then buried his chance in the bottom right corner of the net to tie the game at one all.

The celebration was short lived though, as the Eagles decided to unleash Simon Enstrom, who notched his first collegiate goal and his first of two on the night in the 16th minute. Taking a long pass from a member of the BC backline, Enstrom was able to maneuverer around multiple Terriers before chipping the ball over Gilbert and then shooting it into the wide open net.

Enstrom was an unstoppable force for most of the night, as the young freshman repeatedly burned the Terrier defense despite BU abandoning their 3-4-3 structure in favor of a five in the back formation to stop the streaking Swede. Case and point, Enstrom snuck past the Terriers in the 24th minute and almost gave the Eagles a 3-1 lead. Lucky for the Terriers, redshirt-junior goalie Matt Gilbert dove out to deflect the ball for arguably one of his best saves of the night.

Gilbert’s night was not over after that however, as he made another miraculous save in the 61st minute. After the Terriers thought the Eagles went offsides and stopped playing, two Eagles broke past the BU defense and were closing in on what looked like a backbreaking BC goal. But Gilbert made a diving save towards the edge of the box to deflect the ball, and junior David Asbjornsson was quickly able to get into position to heroically block a follow-up shot with his foot and keep the Terriers’ hopes alive.

The Terrier offense was floundering getting the ball into striking distance, and during that time, their bend-don’t-break defense conceded what was thought to have been another goal for the Eagles. BC midfielder Zeiko Lewis blew past defender David Asbjornsson and fired a shot into the back of the BU net, but the goal was correctly called back after the officials penalized Lewis for pushing down Asbjornsson on his streak to the goal.

Eventually, the Terriers found their offensive prowess again in the final twenty minutes of the match. Massachusetts native Felix De Bona, who had two points in BU’s 3-2 victory over Fordham on Friday, took a cross from freshman T.J. Butzke, the golden goal hero of that same contest, and kicked it past the scrambling Eagles to tie the score at two apiece. The Terriers comeback largely mirrored that of their victory over Fordham where they came from behind 2-1 to win 3-2.

However this time, the Terriers would not repeat the same result, and the Simon Enstrom show once again took center stage at Nickerson Field. With just 11 minutes left in the match, and just moments after being substituted back onto the pitch, Enstrom booted a shot into the top right corner of the BU net to kill the Terriers’ rally and put the Eagles up for good at 3-2. The young freshman almost had a hat trick in the 87th minute, as his shot beat Gilbert, but pinged off the left post.

The Terriers fell victim to a young and fast Simon Enstrom who controlled the pace of the game right from the start, and the BC Eagles improved to 2-0 while the Terriers fell back to 1-1.

The Terriers are in action again on Wednesday, September 8th against Siena College at Nickerson Field, and they will look to stay at the right side of .500 on the season then.

Game Notes:
Goals: BC: Idrissa Bangura (2”), Simon Enstrom (16”, 79”)
BU: Anthony Viteri (5”), De Bona (73”)
Cards: BC: Len Zeugner (Yellow, 78”)
BU: None
Shots: BC: 8-7-15
BU: 6-7-13
Saves: BC: 1-2-3
BU: 2-2-4
Corner Kicks: BC: 4-0-4
BU: 5-6-11
Fouls: BC: 4-7-11
BU: 7-8-15