After 30 minutes of fast-paced, game-controlling offense, Boston College men’s soccer finally had a real opportunity to break the game open. Louisville goalkeeper AJ Piela dived to deflect a rocket that came off the foot of star sophomore Xavier O’Neil, which was bound for the bottom-right corner of the goal.
After the save, the ball landed right where the Cardinals didn’t want it—in the foothold of BC midfielder Marco Dos Santos. With Piela still sprawled on the ground, nothing but open air stood between Dos Santos and the back of the net.
But he missed it wide right, keeping the game scoreless.
Missed opportunities like these were what plagued the Eagles (3–2–5, 0–2–2 Atlantic Coast) on Sunday afternoon as they eked out a 1–1 draw against the Louisville Cardinals (4–3–2, 0–2–2).
“Honestly, I felt like we played really, really well. It was just a matter of being a little bit more clinical in the end,” BC head coach Bob Thompson said. “Louisville we tied. We played neck and neck to Pitt and Clemson—top five teams in the country. It’s hard to find wins in the ACC, but we’re close, we’re close.”
The match got off to a hot start, with BC forward Michael Asare getting off a shot on goal within the first ten seconds that was saved in the top right corner. Again in the ninth minute, Eagles’ forward Ask Ekeland ripped a laser that headed right towards the middle of the net, only to soar right into the hands of Piela.
The next 20 minutes saw action, with BC firing off two shots on goal. The Eagles’ closest call to giving the Cardinals a lead came in the 20th minute, when goalkeeper Brennan Klein made a diving save on a ball zooming towards the top left corner of the net.
The momentum shifted Louisville’s way after Dos Santos’ miss.
In the last 15 minutes of the half, the Cardinals controlled the pace of play, ringing off a shot that went right above the crossbar, then two corner kicks. The Eagles looked shaky, but still entered halftime deadlocked in a 0–0 tie.
The Cardinals did not let up early in the second half. Within the first five minutes, they fired three shots, the last of which saw tensions rise as Louisville coach John Michael Hayden angrily called for a penalty from the sidelines.
His anger was short-lived, however, as Louisville finally broke the scoring drought shortly after.
After shaking his defender, Michael Lee fired a cross to forward Gage Guerra that landed about three feet short of the bottom right corner of the goal. Guerra immediately capitalized on the opportunity, redirecting the ball off a hop and sending it just under the arms of Klein and into the back of the net, putting the Cardinals up 1–0.
The rest of the match saw the Eagles trying to play catch-up and stave off another ACC loss. They notched 12 shots throughout the second half, compared to the Cardinals’ four. But continued missed opportunities that kept the Eagles out of the scoring column.
An hour in, O’Neil fired a missile into the wide-open left side of the goal. But it strayed just far right enough for Piela to get a hand on it, deflecting the ball into the left post and then out of bounds.
With five minutes remaining and things beginning to look grim for BC, Ekeland came to the rescue.
Off a BC corner kick, Asare headed the ball high into the air. Ekeland wasted no time taking advantage of the assist.
Taking a huge leap off the turf, he headed Asare’s header, launching it past Piela and into the goal’s top right corner. The Eagles had finally tied things up.
“I kind of had a feeling it was going to come eventually,” Ekeland said. “For me as an attacker, it’s only about being prepared when the opportunity is there.”
The match did not see much more action, and ultimately ended in a 1–1 draw.
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