It was a sultry September evening under the floodlights on Tuesday night as Boston College men’s soccer took on its local rival Boston University.
The tension between the teams matched the humidity at the Newton Soccer Stadium and nerves were palpable in the opening period, as scrappy possession by both teams defined the beginning of the game.
The Eagles seemed comfortable on the ball, looking to thread it in behind the BU defense. But the Terriers had an equally threatening counter-attacking outlet on the break, and not much separated the two sides in the opening 15 minutes—a hardly surprising fact given the previous four games all ended in a draw.
But all of that changed after a scrappy goal line scramble led to BU’s Anthony Harper poking in the Terrier’s opener to put the visitors 1–0 up. The goal swung the momentum away from the Eagles, and BC struggled to keep the ball as they looked to force their way over the top in response.
But BC ultimately came back, rallying around two late-game goals that came less than a minute apart and allowed the Eagles (5–4–0, 1–2–0 Atlantic Coast) to beat the Terriers (4–3–0, 1–1–0 Patriot League) 2–1.
“It was a big result for us,” BC head coach Bob Thompson said. “This is the time of year you want to start building some momentum, and tonight showed the quality and character of the group.”
As the half progressed, the Terriers seemed happy to sit back and protect their one goal lead, resulting in the Eagles lacking attacking options in the face of a compact BU defense.
“They got the goal early and I think they just defended really well after that,” Thompson said.
As the first half drew to a close, the Eagles began to gather some steam as the midfield looked less congested and they repeatedly got looks from a long ball switch out to Russell Brown on the right wing. Nevertheless, BC entered the half time break a goal down, without a shot on target to show for it.
There was little change at the beginning of the second half. While the Eagles had possession the majority of the time, they struggled to protect the ball when it mattered most as BU’s defense repeatedly got takeaways.
“We lacked a little bit of quality in the final third,” said Thompson.
Entering the final ten minutes of the game, tension rose even higher. It looked as if the Eagles would be headed for a second straight home defeat.
BC kept a level head, though, and a composed period of possession saw them threatening BU’s goal more and more. The Eagles’ efforts culminated in the 87th minute, when BC defender CJ Williams whipped a shot into the bottom left corner from thirty yards out.
Home fans erupted, and so did the BC bench as Williams and the rest of the team bolted to the corner in celebration.
But the Eagles weren’t finished yet. Less than a minute later, a parried save fell to the feet of Johannes Hanken Tjostheim, who calmly slotted it into the bottom right corner past the hands of BU goalkeeper William Clavier for the game-winning score. Within the span of a minute, the Eagles had turned the game on its head.
As the full-time whistle went, BU’s players dropped to their knees in disbelief as BC’s celebrations resumed.
