BROOKLINE – A snowstorm hit the Boston area early Tuesday morning forcing Wednesday’s Northeastern-Boston College soccer match to Parsons Field. Several Husky fans hung a banner across midfield that read, “Losing home-field advantage? Priceless.”
The banner was true to its word, but for the wrong team.
The Huskies’ magical season finally concluded that afternoon, as the men’s soccer team fell in a thrilling 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Big East champion Eagles (17-4-0, 8-2-0). Neil Krause scored the game-winner late in the second half, ending NU’s season at 12-8-2 (6-2 America East).
“I didn’t think we started off that great, and BC came out strong in the first two or three minutes,” said Northeastern head coach Ed Matz. “It was a very well played game. We had a very good record on our home field, and thought we’d be able to close out the game.
“When we were up 1-0, we missed some chances to go up 2-0.”
Northeastern spent much of the second half on BC’s side of the field. The aggressive approach by the Huskies came to fruition at the 63:51 mark, when junior Atha Kirkopoulos sent a cross pass to the middle of the field. The pass never touched the ground, and sophomore Michael Cipriano blasted the score into the top right corner of the net for NU’s final lead of the season.
Boston College would strike back soon thereafter, as Bill Arnault took a Casey Schmidt pass for a 1-1 tie at 73:22. Less than four minutes later, freshman goalkeeper Sergio Saccoccio dove to his right as Neil Krause finished in the opposite corner, making the score 2-1 at 77:03. The Huskies had several occasions to tie the game up near the end. They even pulled Saccoccio from the goal and moved him up as an 11th midfielder. But, an off-target 40-yard Oumar Thiam blast and a missed header by Benny Prueske sealed the deal.
“That four-minute span where BC outplayed us was the difference. When we had missed those shots, I thought for sure we would get the equalizing goal,” Matz said.
The first half produced no goals, but featured plenty of action. The evenly matched set was extremely physical, as evidenced by the 38 total fouls between the two teams during the contest.
“The teams played with a lot of emotion, and both teams wanted to move on in the NCAAs,” Matz said. “They played hard, and both teams were trying to establish dominance. It was a typical second round NCAA match between two evenly matched teams.
“I thought BC was frustrated, and they thought they’d be able to come in and dominate us.”
From onset, the two goalkeepers were intent on making the match a competitive affair. America East Rookie of the Year Saccoccio made numerous stops for Northeastern early in the game, like the header made in front of traffic at the 18:54 mark, or the diving stop of a Pat Haggerty kick at 26:47.
“[Saccoccio] played well,” Matz said. “He is a relatively calm goalkeeper. He’s very confident, very positive, and figured he’d be able to get us through this.
“He did an excellent job this season, especially after replacing Allan Lewis, who was an icon in goal for us the past four years.”
Regardless of the outcome, the general consensus is that of a successful season.
“It was an unbelievable season,” Matz said. “We came in very young and with a lot of questions. The low point was a loss to Dartmouth in overtime. We could have packed it in, but we picked it up and got to where we are today.”
BC now faces Creighton in the Elite Eight after defeating Southern Methodist 5-4 in penalty kicks.
