Men's Soccer Hosts Albany Saturday Afternoon
October 13, 2006 | Men's Soccer
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The Boston University men's soccer team (7-3-4, 2-2-1 America East), fresh off a thrilling 2-1 double overtime come-from-behind victory over league-leading Vermont, will host the Great Danes of Albany (6-6-2, 4-2-0 AE) on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. on Nickerson Field.
BU snapped a two-game losing streak with a thriller against the Catamounts last Wednesday evening in the rain. The Terriers and the Cats fought both the elements and each other through the first half, playing the first 45:00 through steady rain unable to finish any of their scoring chances.
UVM came out of the half pressuring BU and turned that pressure into an opportunity. T.J. Gore received the ball from Rem Kielman on a clear 25 yards from the Terriers' goal and dodged a BU defender before posting the game's first goal, low and to the right at 48:28. Sophomore Petur Sigurdsson (Hafnarfjordur, Iceland) did get the Terriers on the board at 83:25 on a penalty kick that sailed home on the right side after the Catamounts were whistled for tripping in the box.
With the score deadlocked at 1-1 through regulation and one overtime period, the teams fought through the downpour, each generating several scoring chances in the second overtime. But sophomore Dan Schultz (Cincinnati, Ohio) took the ball up the left side and crossed it to graduate student Moshe Shalchon (Rishon Lezioh, Israel) who sent a pass into sophomore Jin Oh (Dededo, Guam). Oh's shot from five yards slipped past Vermont's Roger Scully to seal the victory for BU.
Sigurdsson leads the Terrier with five goals and one assist for 11 points on the year. Oh is second on the team in scoring (3g, 6p). Senior goalkeeper Zach Riffett (Brenham, Tex.) has a miniscule 0.70 goals against average (GAA) (10 goals allowed) through 13 games as well as a .836 save percentage with 51 saves.
Albany comes into tomorrow's match up also having stopped a two-game slide. The Great Danes had won their first three conference games of the season (against Hartford, UMBC, and Stony Brook) before dropping two to Vermont and New Hampshire.
Senior forward Yan Gbolo (4g, 2a) and senior midfielder/back Stephan Hall (2g, 2a) lead the Great Danes on offense. Sophomore goalie Steward Ceus has a 1.32 GAA and an .804 save percentage with a record of 6-6-2.
BU holds a 5-0-1 lead in the all-time series which dates back to just 1999, two years before Albany joined the America East. The Terriers' biggest win cam in 1999 when BU took a 4-0 victory at home. The two teams have twice gone into extra time - in 2001 when BU needed one overtime to claim a 3-2 win and in 2003 when the Terriers went to double overtime before pulling out a 1-0 victory.
