Men’s Soccer: De Bona Blast in Extra Time Gives Terriers 1-0 Win

By: Dan Shulman

BOSTON, Ma. — “Good luck.” A phrase that has not been synonymous with Boston University Men’s Soccer over the past couple of weeks. Earning its first victory since September 20 on Saturday against Lafayette, the Terriers looked to keep the momentum going on Tuesday night against Dartmouth. They did just that in a 1-0 extra time victory.

But against the Big Green, the Terriers luck continued to swing upward. After a scoreless first 90 minutes, the Terriers won a free-kick early in extra-time. T.J. Butzke’s free-kick was controlled by Jerry Ozor who chested the ball down to Felix De Bona. The senior from Somerville ripped a curling, dipping shot to win it for BU.

“I was trying to make a play,” said De Bona. “I saw the ball just land, took a touch to my right, and I think the guy on my left thought I was going to pass it out wide. I just took a touch inside, saw an opening, told myself ‘good luck’ and I shot the ball. It’s a great feeling.”

The injury bug has bit hard in the past couple weeks, with midfielder Anthony Viteri picking up an injury over the weekend. Defenders David Asbjornsson and Adam Sheikali were also sidelined for Tuesday’s game.

With many backups and reserves seeing time in their off-positions ahead of this Saturday’s all-important league match against Lehigh, the Terriers played an even match against a talented Dartmouth team currently 18th in the NCAA Power Rankings.

The Big Green nearly struck in the first half when Tyler Dowse took a curling shot from 18 yards that took a leaping save from Matt Gilbert to parry away.

Gilbert injured himself in the final moments of the first half when he dove for a lose ball in the area. The keeper was slow to get up and carried a limp around with him until the 65th minute when Bjorn Kammholz came on in relief.

The Terriers’ backup keeper nearly made a costly mistake in the waning moments of the match, as a long Dartmouth free kick slipped through his hands and was cleared off the line by Adam Wright.

The De Bona goal 1:54 into the extra-frame gave the Terriers a valuable victory and some much-needed confidence headed into the final stretch of Patriot League play. Despite the rallying victory, Coach Neil Roberts stresses that there is still more work left to be done.

“It really doesn’t mean anything unless we can put a couple performances like this back-to-back,” said Roberts. “I think we’ll have a few guys back on Saturday and that will be good. I think that the guys did a great job.”