Men’s Soccer: Terriers winless streak stretched to five after capitulation against Santa Clara
By Charlie DeMatteo
Boston University Men’s Soccer (0-1-4) fell 2-1 to the Santa Clara Broncos (2-2) on Sunday night at Nickerson Field in Boston. The Terriers were unable to hold on to a 1-0 advantage against the West Coast Conference opponent who scored two second-half goals en route to a comeback victory.
Still searching for their first win of the year, a promising first-half display turned sour for BU as they let a one-goal advantage slip to Santa Clara in the second half.
“It’s a tough feeling, but we have to move on,” BU head coach Kevin Nylen said postgame. “The guys are down.”
The Broncos started immediately on the front foot inside the first minute as freshman midfielder Jaiden Windell tested junior Terrier goalkeeper Ben Alexander in goal. Windell found himself in a pocket of space on the edge of the box and Alexander managed to tip the effort onto the post and out of harm’s way.
The Terriers responded well to the early pressure from the visiting side as Nylen’s team played through the lines and freshman forward Dylan Williams sent in a dangerous cross that was eventually dealt with by the Santa Clara defense.
The Terriers continued their positive momentum in the eighth minute when sophomore midfielder Jason Zacarias won possession and burst forward before putting in a dangerous cross that found the head of sophomore forward Andrea Di Blasio. Di Blasio’s effort was inches away from giving the Terriers the lead, but Bronco goalkeeper Jack Stoecker saved his effort as the score remained 0-0.
21 minutes in, it was Zacarias again who made things happen for BU. As he had already once before, Zacarias got on the ball in the middle of the field before playing an inch-perfect ball to senior midfielder Daniel Kim who nudged it along to graduate forward Aidan Bone who slotted home into an empty net to give BU the 1-0 lead.
“The center backs were patient in the build today, sometimes maybe a little bit too slow, but I thought that was a good first goal,” Nylen said. “We looked to create a little more tonight which is good and I think that’s a product of us being patient on the ball.”
Neither team created much of anything else to end the first half. Nylen used a much rotated squad handing starts to both defenders junior Aidan Keefer and sophomore Charlie Tuckerman. The two central defenders dealt with the Santa Clara attack with relative ease in an impressive display.
“I thought it was really good for Charlie and Aidan to get starts tonight, I thought they were good,” Nylen said. “They gave us good minutes and in the big picture hopefully that helps us.”
The Terriers entered the break up 1-0 thanks to the goal from Bone and stellar defensive play from Nylen’s starters.
Santa Clara dominated possession in the opening minutes of the second half, but it was the Terriers who had a huge opportunity in the 51st minute. Substitute junior forward Damola Salami played a key pass through to senior forward Andrew Rent who was clean through on goal, but was denied by Stoecker to keep the score 1-0.
A minute later, substitute junior defender Ryan Lau made a driving run from left back and unleashed a powerful effort on net but was just a bit wide as it didn’t trouble Stocker in net.
Santa Clara grew into the second half with some promising play from midfielder Pierce Dyal, but with less than 30 minutes on the clock, the Broncos were still searching for an equalizer.
In the 68th minute, things began to get chippy between the two sides. Zacarias, on a yellow card from a previous foul, luckily avoided a second warning after a late foul. Then, not even a minute later, Zacarias went down hard after a foul from Bronco defender Yoni Aidlberg.
Perhaps shaken by the tense bit of play, the Terriers then conceded a free kick in the 70th minute to the Broncos who would capitalize. Midfielder Florian Deletioglu was able to nod an effort toward goal off a quality delivery and Alexander couldn’t stop the effort as it trickled into the Terrier net.
The Terriers nearly found themselves in front again when junior defender Giuseppe Bagnato whipped in a cross that almost found the feet of Di Blasio, but Aidlberg was there to clear it.
The Broncos then went down the other end of the field and flipped the game on its head. In the 78th minute, Santa Clara found some space in the Terrier third when Aidlberg was able to find a wide-open Tyler Tipton who headed home from close range past Alexander, giving the Broncos the 2-1 lead.
“It’s the same pattern on both goals,” Nylen said. “Two headed goals came when there was service and we got punished.”
BU attempted a response to Santa Clara’s goal with an effort of their own when Salami found some open space, but his effort was easily saved by Stoecker in goal.
The Terriers had a big chance with a minute remaining when Bone ripped a shot at Stoecker but was unable to find an equalizer in the game’s final 10 minutes as BU’s 16-game unbeaten streak at home came to an end.
BU will look for their first win of the season next time out when host Army West Point on Saturday at 1 p.m. to start their Patriot League campaign.