{"id":50937,"date":"2025-11-05T09:57:41","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T14:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=50937"},"modified":"2025-11-05T09:58:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T14:58:09","slug":"mens-soccer-terriers-bounce-back-win-last-regular-season-game-against-holy-cross","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2025\/11\/05\/mens-soccer-terriers-bounce-back-win-last-regular-season-game-against-holy-cross\/","title":{"rendered":"Men\u2019s Soccer: Terriers Bounce Back, Win Last Regular Season Game Against Holy Cross"},"content":{"rendered":"

Featured Image by Jenny Chen\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

By Adrianna Uykan<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Boston University Men\u2019s Soccer (9-7-0, 5-4-0 PL) notched an important 2-1 win against the Holy Cross Crusaders (4-8-6, 1-5-3 PL) Tuesday night at Nickerson Field, breaking a four-game losing streak in the Terriers\u2019 last regular-season match.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Both teams started out strong from the first whistle, battling back and forth possession in a frenzy that looked closer to ping pong than soccer. The Terriers put up three corner kicks in the first 25 minutes, the last of which did not fare as they hoped.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Crusaders cleared the third BU corner down the opposite end of the field, where forward Liam Heneghan fed a pass to set up a smooth one-timer goal from midfielder Jack Fiedler.<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking to even the score, the Terriers applied pressure throughout the rest of the first half, maintaining possession and putting up a total of six shots \u2014 double the shots Holy Cross had.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The equalizer came late in the 43rd minute, with junior forward Andrea Di Blasio netting the Terriers\u2019 first penalty kick goal of the year. Di Blasio, shooting inside the box, nailed the ball into the right side of the goal, faking Crusader goalkeeper John Smith.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe earned the PK,\u201d BU Head Coach Kevin Nylen said of Di Blasio. \u201cYou always want a guy who is confident and wants to take it. He stepped up and took it well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

BU nearly took the lead a minute later, but sophomore forward Dylan Williams\u2019 shot was deflected by the Crusader defense \u2014 despite Smith being off his goal line.<\/span><\/p>\n

Though BU trailed most of the first half, the score was not reflective of either team\u2019s performance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Heading into the second half, the Terriers looked to keep up their dominant showing against Holy Cross.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t really need to do anything different for the game,\u201d Nylen said. \u201cIt\u2019s just now being a little smarter in terms of our numbers forward to limit the counter, and I thought the guys did a really good job.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This simple strategy paid off for BU \u2014 the team handled the ball well in the second half, shutting down the Crusader offense almost completely. Holy Cross only squeezed by two shots in the second half, compared to the Terriers\u2019 seven.<\/span><\/p>\n

These only two shots came in the 59th minute, where senior goalkeeper Sheraz Saadat put up an impressive defensive performance, diving and rebounding to block two attempts by Heneghan.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terriers were able to take the lead in the 67th minute, thanks to a perfectly timed chip from senior midfielder Ethan Gill. The BU leading goal-scorer took advantage of a rebounded ball \u2014 Smith blocked a shot by sophomore midfielder Jack Grossman, but could not get his hands on the ball to shut down further scoring chances.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew at halftime we were going to have to come out with some energy and get it done,\u201d Gill said. \u201cI feel like it was just a really good overall response from the boys, front to back.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gill\u2019s goal sealed the deal for the game \u2014 Holy Cross put up a corner kick just a minute later, but were not able to capitalize on the set piece. Both teams played clean, back-and-forth soccer for the final 23 minutes, though ultimately not being able to find another chance to break through.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nylen said he was proud of the Terriers\u2019 performance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c[It was] a big collective effort from our group, when it\u2019s been against us for the last couple weeks to bounce back and get an important confidence booster in terms of a win,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s win was vastly important for the Terriers\u2019 Patriot League playoffs implications \u2014 BU\u2019s four-game losing streak dropped the team down to sixth place in the division, but the win against Holy Cross, coupled with a 1-1 Lafayette tie with Lehigh, pulled the Terriers up two spots.<\/span><\/p>\n

In fourth place, BU now gets home field advantage in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament on Saturday against No. 5 seed Bucknell.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew we had to get three points to even talk about having a home game,\u201d said Nylen. \u201cBig to come and play home tonight and now to give ourselves an opportunity to play at home on Saturday.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s match against the Bucknell Bison will kick off at 1 p.m. on Nickerson Field, with streaming available on ESPN+.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Featured Image by Jenny Chen\u00a0 By Adrianna Uykan Boston University Men\u2019s Soccer (9-7-0, 5-4-0 PL) notched an important 2-1 win against the Holy Cross Crusaders (4-8-6, 1-5-3 PL) Tuesday night at Nickerson Field, breaking a four-game losing streak in the Terriers\u2019 last regular-season match.\u00a0 Both teams started out strong from the first whistle, battling back […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25423,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1026,1030,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50937"}],"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\/25423"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50937"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50938,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50937\/revisions\/50938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}