If any team needed a win against an ACC opponent, it was Boston College men’s soccer.
The Eagles notched just one conference win last season, which came in their final regular-season game against then-No. 8 North Carolina. That marked the program’s first ACC win since October of 2022.
But that win at the end of last season seemed to have changed nothing in terms of the Eagles’ ACC status. BC (2–3, 0–1 Atlantic Coast) fell 2–0 to the Golden Bears (3–1–1, 0–1) on Sunday night, starting conference play off with a loss.
After transfer Johannes Hanken Tjostheim and Dylan Mafong rattled off consecutive shots to begin the match, it seemed like BC’s offense might have found some much-needed rhythm after scoring just three goals in the first five games of its season.
But it was the Golden Bears that struck first, as California was awarded with its second corner kick of the evening 16 minutes into play.
Malcolm Zalayet took the shot on the play, chipping the ball into the lower corner of the net off a Kiernan Serra assist. Freshman goaltender Andrej Borak was unable to come up with the stop, and the Golden Bears took an early 1–0 lead on the Eagles’ home field.
There was one distinguishing factor that led to the demise of the Eagles—corner kicks. The whistle signaling a corner kick blared ten times for California, but just six times for the Eagles. None of those six opportunities ended up with the ball in the back of the Golden Bears’ net.
The long plane ride to Boston didn’t seem to faze California too much. The Bears hammered their second and final goal of the game less than six minutes later off of yet another corner kick.
All eyes were on Luka Lukic when he tapped the ball into the cage thanks to a perfectly placed pass from Noe Morales.
BC gave up possession when a yellow card was pulled out on Bryan Toro six minutes later, and the foul trouble only persisted in the second half. The Eagles tallied three-straight yellow cards within a four minute span from Mafong, CJ Williams, and Ask Ekeland.
The tension only increased in the final few minutes of the game. Devon Galluzzo was met with a flash of yellow, as all four of the fouls in the final frame were called against the home team. Although the Bears were unable to convert on any more BC fouls, penalty trouble also kept BC out of the game, resulting in a loss for the Eagles.
