With time winding down against No. 5 Clemson, Boston College men’s soccer looked like it might keep its unbeaten streak alive.
Clemson’s (3–1–1, 1–0–1 Atlantic Coast) Misei Yoshizawa had other plans, though, putting the Tigers ahead at the 71:41 mark and handing his team a 1–0 win over BC (2–1–3, 0–1–1).
The game started slow with the first chance not coming until 14:37 into the match when Marco Dos Santos found Ask Ekeland through on goal. Ekeland tried to slot the ball into the bottom-right corner, but a save from Clemson goalkeeper Joseph Andema kept the game tied.
The Tigers responded immediately with a shot from Joran Gerbet that just missed the top-right corner.
BC managed another chance 24:58 into the game when Dos Santos got his head on a cross, but he couldn’t direct the ball into the net.
The rest of the half came and went quietly as neither team could find the breakthrough it was looking for.
The Eagles came out firing to begin the second half. Leo Guarino got a shot off that was blocked before falling to Michael Asare, who winded up a right-footed shot with no Tigers in the vicinity. But the ball rolled safely into the hands of Andema.
BC followed up that effort with a flurry of shots in the 58th minute from Jack Burkhardt, Marci Killeen, and Christian Bejar, but the Eagles couldn’t find the back of the net.
In the lead-up to the shots, Dos Santos went down in the box, resulting in a penalty check for BC. After video review, no foul was given, though, and the ball went out for a Clemson goal kick.
“The referee blew it for our team,” BC head coach Bob Thompson said after the game. “Just 100 percent. We deserved to tie. They missed a penalty for us, and they missed a clear handball on them.”
The Tigers managed to take back the momentum as Adam Lundegard forced a diving save from BC goalkeeper Brennan Klein 59:33 into the match.
Clemson found its breakthrough just 12 minutes later when Gerbet dribbled into the BC box before sliding a pass to Yoshizawa, who found himself wide open with a chance to put his team in front. Yoshizawa curled the ball just past Klein’s outstretched hands and buried it into the bottom-left corner of the net.
Ultimately, the Tigers held onto their lead for the game’s remaining minutes to secure their first ACC win of the season and snap the Eagles’ streak of five unbeaten matches to start the year.
“I mean it’s tough when you don’t get the point you deserved,” Thompson said after the game. “So the guys are going to be a little bit gutted, but I got a mature group so they’re gonna have to pick themselves up.”
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