Men’s Soccer Sweeps America East with 1-0 Victory over Binghamton

Jin Oh(CAS’09) scored the men’s soccer team’s lone goal in the 80th minute to lead the top-seededBoston University team to a thrilling 1-0 victory overBinghamton in the America East title game on November 15 atNickerson Field. The Terriers extended their unbeaten streakto nine games and helped BU become the first school since 1999 to sweepboth the men’s and women’s America East tournament titles in the sameseason.

Oh, who was named the Most Outstanding Player of the men’s tournament,scored the game-winning goal at 79:49 with a chip shot over the head ofkeeper Jason Stenta from 20 yards out to break the scoreless tie off afeed from Richy Dorman (SMG’10).He posted his third goal of the season and his second of the postseason, recording the first one in the semifinals on November 12 against Vermont.

"It couldn’t have been a more perfect ball than the one Richyplayed," Oh says. "I saw the goalie coming out, and I knew he wascheating. I’m just happy that I can contribute to my team, especiallywhen we need it the most. My teammates are great, and I believe wedeserve a lot this year with the team we have. At BU, we’ve been waiting all four years to win this title. It feels great, and personally, I couldn’t ask foranything better right now."

With the win, Neil Roberts, in his24th year as head coach, and the Terrier program have now captured their seventh leaguetournament title — the first since 2004 — and also earned their 14th tripto the NCAA tournament with the automatic berth. Seven days earlier, the women’s team and head coach Nancy Feldman won their league championship.

Fans may have doubted the possibility of winning the league title at the beginning of theyear, when the men started the season 0-3-1 after facing fournationally ranked teams, including St. John’s and Connecticut.

"I don’t want to say it’s ever expected, but this is where wewanted to be," Roberts says. "I know in the preseason we weren’t pickedto win the conference, but we felt from day one that we would be asolid team. This group developed as the year went by. They worked hard,and we put them under a lot of pressure in training, mentally as wellas physically. We gave them an unbelievable schedule that could haveled to them folding, but they didn’t. Our coaches did a great job, soit’s very satisfying to see everyone come together and really putsomething together."

Dan Schultz (CAS’09) and Hrafn Davidsson(ENG’09) played important roles in making what could have been their finalgame at Nickerson Field a memorable one as they anchored a defensethat held the Bearcats to a total of four shots and just one on goal.

Davidsson earned his seventh shutout of the season and made arguably his most important save as a Terrier inthe 40th minute of the first half, when he dove to his left to stop a hardshot from Ryan Tomko.

The Terriers finished the contest ahead in shot attempts, 14-4.Still, even with his team dominating possession most of the time inBinghamton’s half of the field, Roberts never felt at ease with theflow of the game, especially with the scoreboard still blank forboth squads late in the second half.

"They could have easily countered our attack with a quick goal," hesays. "We had three guys warming up in the final 20 minutes —if we were down a goal, they were coming on the field. In this sport,you can dominate and play really well and not win. That happens oftenin our game, especially against good defensive teams."

"We could never break them down," he adds. "They were very wellorganized, and we never really penetrated or tested their goalkeeperexcept for a couple of free kicks. That’s a credit to Binghamton, butwhen a team does that, it doesn’t leave them a lot of opportunities toattack. You have to be careful that they don’t counter, and Richy Dorman did an excellent job of sitting in the hole and making sure they didn’t get something out of nothing."

Representing the Terriers on the All-Championship team were Oh, Schultz, Samuel Appiah (MET’10), and Shaun Taylor (SAR’10).Also on the team were Cody Germain, Cameron Keith, and Barry Nevillefrom Binghamton, Erik DiLorenzo and Taylor Mikael McNamara from Albany,Lee Stephane Kouadio and Connor Tobin from Vermont, Carlos Villa fromHartford, and Kyle Urso from New Hampshire.

The seven-time America East champion Terriers will learn their NCAA fate onMonday, November 17, at approximately 6 p.m. on ESPNews. Last year, the teamreceived an at-large bid, losing, 2-1, at UMass in the first round.

Women’s team falls short in NCAA first round to fourth-seeded USC, 2-0
Goalkeeper Janie Reilly(CAS’11) played an impressive game, with six stops in net, but the BostonUniversity women’s soccer team came up short on November 13 whenit lost, 2-0, to defending national champion USC in the NCAA tournamentat Brigham Young University. BU completes its season with a 15-6-1 recordafter making its fourth straight trip to the postseason tourney, seventh overall.

The Terriers did a good job of containing senior Olympian AmyRodriguez and USC’s point leader Ashli Sandoval; goals fromAshley Nick and Janessa Currier, however, gave the Trojans the two-goal victory.

USC came out on the attack early as Rodriguez and MarihelenTomer peppered Reilly with two quick shots to start the match.Rodriguez rocketed a point-blank shot at Reilly, who came up with adiving stop, and on the ensuing rebound Tomer one-timed it from the18-yard box high over the net. Following the early USC attack, bothteams settled in, with most of the play in the midfield.

Jessica Luscinski(SAR’12) recorded BU’s first shot of the game, a hard strike from 20 yards outthat sailed high of the net at 28:44, and less than a minute later thesquad earned its first corner kick of the contest, which was defendedby the Trojans.

On a counterattack in the 40th minute, USC’s Brittany Kerridge fired off a shot that Casey Brown(COM’10) blocked for a team save, and less than a minute later Reilly came offher line to save a Trojan corner kick. With two minutes remaining inthe first stanza, USC’s Stacey Strong sent a cross into the box thatReilly punched out, and Nini Loucks fired a low, hard strike into thenear left corner that forced Reilly to the ground for the stop.

The BU defense was able to withstand the Trojans’ potent attack, whichhad netted 48 goals through 20 games prior to Thursday, with Reilly makingfive saves in the first stanza.

USC broke through five minutes into the second half, as Currier found the back of the net off a pass from Nick.Sandoval set up the goal with a free kick into the box. Rodriguez nearly upped the lead to two with 26 minutes remaining, butReilly came off her line aggressively to cut down the angle and Elizabeth Speck (CAS’09) closed in on Rodriguez, forcing her to shoot it wide left of the net.

The Trojans increased their lead by two when Nick took a pass,and situated right on the penalty stripe, knocked home her fourth goalof the season.

The BU senior class of Speck, Meredith Beaton (CAS’09), Mallory Doyle (CAS’09), Jennifer Herman (SAR’09), Shannon Mullen (COM’09), and Marisha Schumacher-Hodge(CAS’09) graduate as one of the most successful classes in program history,with 53 wins and four straight trips to the NCAAtournament — the only group to accomplish that feat in BU women’ssoccer history.