It was an all-Catholic clash as Boston College men’s soccer played host to Notre Dame at Newton Soccer Complex in the Eagles’ final ACC match of the season.
The Eagles (6–8–1, 1–5–1 Atlantic Coast) looked to right the ship in conference play having failed to win their previous five matches. On a similar note, the Fighting Irish (8–4–4, 3–2–2) arrived on a conference winless streak of their own, with a 3—0 loss to NC State marking the most recent of four consecutive conference games that the Irish failed to win.
BC ultimately fell to its long-standing rival, dropping a 1–0 loss on Friday night.
It was a dull first half of the match in Newton, with neither team providing the attacking menace required to pose a threat to each other’s defense. BC controlled the tempo of the match throughout, out shooting Notre Dame 14–8 in the process.
“I don’t think they created many chances at all,” BC head coach Bob Thompson said when speaking on the Notre Dame attack. “We created a lot of chances, more than them. We just couldn’t put the final touch on it.”
The Eagles earned 16 corners in the match, with their best chance coming in the 42nd minute. Aidan Farwell looped a ball towards the back post where Russell Brown waited, heading the ball towards the center of the goal before Notre Dame goalkeeper Blake Kelly made a diving save. Kelly ended with two saves on the evening.
The beginning of the second half saw a daring BC team begin to take shots from outside of the area. Redshirt-senior Ziad Abdul-Malak picked up the ball in halfspace in the 50th minute of the match. Following a nifty turn to avoid the Notre Dame pressure, Abdul-Malak fired a shot which was destined for the top corner, until Kelly made yet another diving save. This would be the closest Boston College would come to scoring.
Notre Dame broke the deadlock in the 75th minute when KK Baffour found Wyatt Lewis on the edge of the area. Lewis carried the ball past Abdul-Malak and into the right side of the penalty area where he fired a shot that deflected off an Eagle defender and into the bottom-left corner, giving the Fighting Irish a 1–0 advantage.
The Eagles controlled the second half of play, with Lewis’ goal coming against the run of play.
BC earned a few more shots and corners in the final 15 minutes of play, but couldn’t get one past Kelly.
“We’ve spent a lot of time on it,” Thompson said concerning his team’s preparation of set pieces. “I think it’s just a little bit more consistency in the quality of service and just the timing of the runs. I mean, we’ll keep working on it.”
Boston College has now failed to win six consecutive ACC games and the team sits at two games below .500.
“I think it’s just going to be a mentality test,” Thompson added. “It’s just a matter of picking themselves back up and keeping the belief going even in a tough moment.”
