Men’s Soccer: Terriers fight back to earn draw against Harvard

(Photo by Holly Gustavsen)

By Charlie DeMatteo

Boston University Men’s Soccer (1-3-8, 1-1-2 PL) tied the Harvard Crimson 1-1 (1-4-4, 0-2 IVY) on Tuesday night at Nickerson Field in Boston.

Despite going a goal behind in the second half, BU managed to level the game late to come away with the tie.

“I thought it was a good overall game and a good response by our guys to get the goal,” BU head coach Kevin Nylen said. “I thought our guys showed really good character to respond.”

The first big chance of the game went to the Crimson in the 11th minute. After a shaky opening 10 minutes, Harvard forward Dylan Tellado found himself clean through on goal but was denied by junior goalkeeper Sheraz Saadat who kept the score 0-0 after a brilliant kick-save.

The Terriers responded with a chance of their own just two minutes later after they strung some passes together in the final third. Senior forward Andrew Rent found himself with the ball on the right wing and swung in a lovely ball that just evaded the head of senior forward Aidan Bone.

The Terriers continued to connect on passes in the Harvard third but had trouble making the final pass, which led to a clear opportunity.

“Early on I thought we were pretty good [in the build-up] and could play through Diego [Rived],” Nylen said. “A couple of times we got in trouble and got narrowed, Quinn [DeLaMater] forced a couple of balls in the second phase.

It was a repeat occurrence for the Terriers in the 29th minute as Rent again found the head of Bone, but again, Bone could not keep his header down as another chance went begging.

The final 15 minutes saw neither team with a clear opportunity as the two teams entered the half tied at 0-0.

“I thought we were in a good position, we made a couple of personnel changes but the gameplan didn’t change.”

BU started the second half on the front foot with a chance for sophomore forward Keke Abai. Abai received a key pass from Rent but dragged his effort wide of the Harvard goal as the score remained 0-0.

The crucial moment of quality came just moments later in the 49th minute when Harvard forward Xavier Tanyi unleashed an audacious effort from well outside the box that flew past Saadat to give Harvard the 1-0 lead.

Harvard did not let up with their pressure as minutes later they forced Saadat into yet another save after Juho Ojanen unleashed an effort from outside the box. Fortunately for the Terriers, Saadat was equal to it with a diving save that went behind for a corner.

Coach Nylen tried to force the issue with a number of substitutes including junior Andrea Di Blasio and Damola Salami. Despite the changes, the Terriers struggled to create opportunities against a steady Crimson defense.

“We were probably a couple passes off from a foot here and there,” Nylen said. “But I thought we found some really good central pockets tonight.”

Harvard continued to be the aggressor and Andrea Savva had a big chance in the 71st minute, but his effort was saved by Saadat.

However, after not having much success throughout the game, a breakthrough came for the Terriers with seven minutes to go. The Terriers worked the ball well on the left flank when senior Aidan Holmes lifted in a cross that found senior defender Andrew Soczynski who then directed a pass towards the goal that was directed home by Bone to tie the game 1-1.

“I don’t think we really deviated much tonight, I thought the response was really good,” Nylen said.

BU had a chance in the 86th minute to take a late lead after a free kick found the head of junior defender John Roman, but Roman couldn’t keep his effort down and the score remained tied.

BU will look to pick up their second win of the season when they return to Patriot League play on Saturday when they host Bucknell at 1 p.m.