Men’s Soccer: Terriers demolished after Brown scores five first-half goals

By Charlie DeMatteo

Boston University Men’s Soccer (1-2-4 1-0 PL) lost 5-1 to the Brown University Bears (2-2-1) on Tuesday night in Providence, Rhode Island.

It was a dreadful evening for the Terriers who conceded five first-half goals en route to a blowout loss against Ivy League opposition.

“A really slow start from us, just a tough way to start the game,” BU head coach Kevin Nylen said.

Brown started immediately on the front foot against the Terriers as senior goalkeeper Andrew Wike was immediately called into action for BU in the second minute. Brown broke quickly through the midfield and midfielder Charlie Adams had his effort saved by WIke from inside the six-yard box.

Adams’ chance was a mere warning sign for what was to come though, as Brown was again on the front foot in the fifth minute when forward Lorenzo Amaral unleashed an effort from well outside the box. This time, Wike could not keep the Brown effort out of his net as Amaral’s effort flew past him into the top left corner, giving the Bears a 1-0 lead.

“Second game in a row giving up a goal inside the first five minutes is something that we have talked about,” Nylen said. “If I knew [what exactly the problem was] we would have eliminated it, but I don’t have that answer.

Over the next 10 minutes, the tempo of the game slowed down dramatically, as the Terriers found their footing defensively and stifled the Brown attack.

The brief period of comfort for the Terriers would not last long though, as Amaral was once again involved. This time in the 18th minute, Amaral whipped in a free kick that found the head of Stefano D’Agostini who headed home past Wike to make it 2-0 Brown.

Frustration grew amongst the Terriers as the game went on. In the 31st minute, senior forward Andrew Rent came very close to giving away a penalty kick. Soon after, Nylen made a quadruple change to try and spark things for the Terriers.

Things went from bad to worse for BU in the 38th minute when Mads Stistrup Petersen let another long-range effort go that beat Wike to his bottom right corner, making it 3-0 Brown with seven minutes still to play in the first half.

Just two minutes later, Brown won a free kick that Amaral stepped over and struck brilliantly into the top right corner past Wike to make it 4-0 Brown. Expecting a cross into the box, Wike was out of position and couldn’t stop Amaral’s second long-range goal of the first half.

To cap off an incredible first half, Brown made it 5-0 in the final seconds of the first half off a corner kick that Andre Romo tucked home into an empty net after Wike and his defense couldn’t clear the ball.

“After giving up the early goal, we were just trying to claw back,” Nylen said.

Following a disastrous opening 45 minutes, Nylen made a plethora of substitutes coming out of the half-time break, including sophomore goalkeeper Ben Alexander for Wike.

While they weren’t able to carve out any clear goalscoring opportunities, the Terriers were able to fend off the Bears in the opening 15 minutes of the second half as the scoreline remained 5-0.

With 15 minutes to play, neither team was clicking offensively as scoring chances were hard to come by for both sides in the second half.

In the game’s final minute, Terrier freshman midfielder Markus Ramsey was able to get BU on the board with a tidy finish following a corner kick to make it 5-1.

“I said to the guys ‘We need to keep our heads up’ and in the second half they did that,” Nylen said. “I thought [the second half] was a bright moment for our group and I enjoyed that.

Comfortable with resting on its comfortable four-goal advantage, Brown was happy to see out the game as the Terriers struggled to connect offensively, with the game ending 5-1 to the hosts.

The Terriers will look to get back on track on Saturday when they travel to Baltimore, MD to face Loyola Maryland at 3 p.m.