{"id":49735,"date":"2025-10-05T21:31:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T01:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=49735"},"modified":"2025-10-14T11:27:51","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T15:27:51","slug":"mens-soccer-bu-dominates-against-loyola-maryland-to-lead-the-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2025\/10\/05\/mens-soccer-bu-dominates-against-loyola-maryland-to-lead-the-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Men\u2019s Soccer: BU Dominates Against Loyola Maryland to Lead the Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jane Guay<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Back on home turf, the Boston University Men\u2019s Soccer (6-3-0, 2-1 PL) took on Loyola Maryland (2-6-1, 1-2 PL) Sunday afternoon at Nickerson Field.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The history between the Terriers and the Greyhounds dates back to October 1987 \u2014 nearly 40 years ago. While the Terriers entered this match with more wins this season, their all-time series against the Greyhounds remains even at 5-5, with their most recent game ending in a draw in September 2024.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terriers had unstoppable energy from the beginning, with an early goal in the first six minutes by junior forward Andrea Di Blasio.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew we were dominant,\u201d Di Blasio said after the game, referring to the first goal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But the Terriers\u2019 momentum eventually got cut short. Loyola quickly responded as midfielder Tyler Tucker, assisted by forward Steven Ozga and defender Ryan Andrews, netted the equalizer to tie the match 1-1 within the first 19 minutes of the half.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t dwell on what happened,\u201d Di Blasio said of Loyola\u2019s early goal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terriers refused to allow the Greyhounds to gain momentum for the time left in the first half, resulting in a goal made by freshman midfielder Sebastian Otero, after an assist from senior defender Quin DeLaMater. Not even five minutes later, sophomore midfielder Pharis Petrica scored with an assist by senior defender Giuseppe Bagnato.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs a coach, you love to see goals and goals by different guys, and I think we\u2019ve seen production up to this point all season from a variety of players and positions,\u201d Head Coach Kevin Nylen said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite three first-half saves from the Greyhounds\u2019 goalkeeper, the Terriers maintained momentum, finishing the half with six shots on goal compared to Loyola\u2019s one.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Greyhounds\u2019 also struggled offensively due to fouling, with defender Jack Endacott receiving a yellow card about 25 minutes into the match. Five additional fouls were recorded by defender Jahvar Stephenson, midfielder Cody Angelini, defender Jack Endacott, midfielder Ben Schouten and midfielder Richie Nichols.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Halftime may have given a time break, but in no way did it break the Terriers\u2019 momentum. Less than 10 minutes into the second half, Di Blasio scored his second goal of the game with an assist by sophomore midfielder Pharis Petrica. This marks Di Blasio\u2019s third goal of the season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve known Andrea for a while, and now he’s continuing to find form and find the back of the net,\u201d Nylen said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, the Terriers\u2019 fouls slowed the pace of the match in the second half, in contrast to the first half, which featured no fouls. Early fouls by sophomore midfielder Pharis Petrica, along with fouls from freshman defender Austin Mobray, senior defender Giuseppe Bagnato and sophomore defender Dylan Williams, contributed to limiting the Terriers to just one goal in the second half.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What had been a clear dominance in Greyhound territory during the first half became a more evenly contested game, with both teams sharing time on the field more equally.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Although the Greyhounds outshot the Terriers three to four in the second half and limited their fouls to one compared to BU\u2019s five, Loyola was unable to score or regain the momentum they lost earlier in the match. This was also accompanied by the three saves BU senior goalkeeper Sheraz Saadat was able to tally \u2014 opposed to the zero in the first half.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Saadat said the key to the match was \u201cplaying our game\u201d and \u201cnot dropping to their level.\u201d This especially came after a more strengthened offense Loyola was able to present at the time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Overall, the Terriers\u2019 defense proved too strong for an improving Loyola offense, keeping them off the board in the second half. The Terriers rounded up the afternoon with a 4-1 victory against the Greyhounds.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was a good performance by the group,\u201d Nylen said. \u201cYou’re always wanting more, but [it was] a good day back at Nickerson and three points in conference.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terriers look to keep this energy in their next game on Friday against Colgate at Nickerson Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m., with streaming available on ESPN+. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jane Guay Back on home turf, the Boston University Men\u2019s Soccer (6-3-0, 2-1 PL) took on Loyola Maryland (2-6-1, 1-2 PL) Sunday afternoon at Nickerson Field.\u00a0 The history between the Terriers and the Greyhounds dates back to October 1987 \u2014 nearly 40 years ago. While the Terriers entered this match with more wins this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25421,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1026,1030,19,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49735"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25421"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49735"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49736,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49735\/revisions\/49736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}