Following back-to-back conference losses against No. 6 Stanford and Syracuse, Boston College men’s soccer had another tough opponent to face in Friday night’s ACC clash—No. 7 Duke. The Eagles entered the game with hopes of improving to .500 on the season and stopping a three-game skid in conference play.
Duke (7-0–5, 3–0–2 Atlantic Coast) posed a formidable challenge for BC (5–6–1, 1–4–1), but the Eagles’ efforts yielded a 0–0 draw, marking their sixth scoreless game of the season.
Entering the match, the Blue Devil attack had posted 33 goals through 11 games—the best in the NCAA. The prolific Duke attack was faced with the prospect of getting past BC goalkeeper Andrej Borak, however, who leads the ACC with 4.45 saves per game.
Duke, having not visited Newton Campus to play the Eagles since 2016, came out of the blocks quickly, applying constant pressure to the BC defense in the first 15 minutes. The Blue Devils failed to convert a flurry of chances early on, however, as the score remained 0–0.
In the 18th minute, Boston College junior midfielder Marci Killeen committed a tactical foul a few yards outside of the penalty area, picking up a yellow card in the process. Senior Drew Kerr from the Blue Devils took the ensuing free-kick, firing it towards the top corner.
But Borak made a diving save. The game ended in the first-year goalie’s fourth shutout of the season.
Less than 10 minutes later, Killeen lunged for a ball in the Blue Devil penalty area, colliding with and fouling goalkeeper Eryk Dymora, resulting in a red card for Killeen.
The Eagles, already facing a top-ten team in the nation, would now have to play down a man for the remaining 63 minutes.
Later towards the end of the half, Jack Burkhardt was penalized with a handball in the box after video review, resulting in another Duke penalty kick. Graduate student Trevor Burns stepped up to take the penalty, firing it low and left into the grateful arms of Borak.
The first half came to a close, with the Blue Devils having outshot the Eagles 9-1. BC came out inspired in the second half, however, digging in defensively against the pressure Duke’s attack was applying.
Although Duke largely dominated the second half, registering 11 shots to BC’s 4 in the period, the best chance of the half fell to the Eagles in the 64th minute.
Russell Brown lofted a throw into the Duke penalty box, bouncing just outside of the six-yard box to a waiting Ask Ekeland, who saw his shot just sail over the bar.
Despite the rest of the game being played largely in BC’s half, the Eagles’ defensive efforts—especially from Bryan Toro, CJ Williams, and Burkhardt—saw the match end in a hard-fought draw.
The Eagles did not pull off an upset win thanks to that defense, but they did stifle the most prolific attack in college soccer—all while playing down a man for the majority of the match.
Borak notched seven saves and made several crucial plays during the ninety minutes, helping BC toward the draw as they look to finish the season strong in their final four matches.
