Men Fall, Women Advance in Soccer

Both our men and women’s soccer teams competed this past weekend in their respective end-of-the-season tournaments. The men’s team advanced to the semifinal of the ACC championship tournament only to suffer a 1-0 loss Friday night against NC State.

In the men’s game, NC State’s Ronnie Bouemboue scored the game’s only goal on a header off of a corner kick in the 6th minute. After gaining the lead, NC State loaded up their defense to protect their one goal lead, making it difficult for the Eagles forwards to find a way through.

The Eagle’s dominated possession with crisp passes that seemed as if they were going to turn into potential scoring opportunities, but every push by the Eagles stalled inside the 18-yard box. Every cross found a Wolfpack defender rather than one of our strikers.

It wasn’t until very late in the game that BC generated several scoring chances that they should have capitalized on. During a scramble inside the box in the last couple minutes of the game, Kyle Becker had a clear shot from the penalty spot, but failed to bury it as he blasted it directly at the keeper. Freshman Kevin Mejia then hit the post with eight seconds left in the game, coming so close to sending the Eagles into their second straight overtime game.

The team is now awaiting its NCAA tournament draw to see whom they will face in the first round.

The Lady Eagles also lost their semifinal game in the ACC tournament. Their first game against Virginia ended 0-0 in overtime, while they lost their semifinal game against North Carolina 0-1 in double over time.

Harvard was 1-0 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

The BC women’s team started off their NCAA tournament appearance by dominating Harvard Friday evening at the Newton soccer complex, where the women’s NCAA tournament is being held. The Eagles won 1-0 in the first round.

The game was not as close as the score indicated as the Eagles dominated possession as well as the shot ratio. Harvard did not have a shot on goal in the second half, except for a weak header that barely reached the goalkeeper.

The Eagles scored at the start of the second half before Harvard was even able to touch the ball. BC kicked off, strung several passes together until they were inside the 18 where Brooke Knowlton found Victoria Dimartino who found Amy Caldwell who in turn found the back of the net. They were passing circles around the Harvard defense, but never managed to score again after the first goal.

Harvard made a push to tie it up at the very end of the game off of several long throw-ins that served as crosses, but none of the Harvard strikers could put a head on the ball. The game ended in an act of frustration by a Harvard midfielder as she took out her anger with a vicious slide tackle that merited a red card.

The Lady Eagles move on to the next round to face Connecticut.

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