Late Goal Pushes No. 3 St. John's Past Terriers, 1-0, in NCAA Second Round
BU finishes season 12-6-3
Freshman Ben Berube led BU in shot attempts with three.

Freshman Ben Berube led BU in shot attempts with three.

Nov. 25, 2008

Box Score

QUEENS, N.Y. - The Boston University men's soccer team held tough with third-seed St. John's through the first 82 minutes of the second round of the NCAA tournament, but sophomore Sverre Wegge Gundhus broke the scoreless tie to push the Red Storm past the Terriers, 1-0, to advance to the third round.

With the season-ending loss, the America East regular season and tournament champion Terriers fall to 12-6-3, while SJU improves to 17-2-3 after recording their 16th shutout of the year.

The Terriers and Red Storm went back forth for much of the first half, though BU had the first two shot attempts with both coming outside the box from Ben Berube and Richy Dorman at 12:31 and 16:11, respectively.

SJU had its first opportunity at 21:24 when Nelson Becerra put a free kick just wide of the Terrier goal after a foul was called on BU outside the box. At the half, the Terriers led the Red Storm in attempts, 5-2, with SJU's Neal Kitson making the only save. BU also had a 2-0 edge in corner kicks.

In the early part of second stanza, again both teams continued to push the ball against one another without one maintaining possession, but the momentum began to swing in the Red Storm's favor.

Davidsson was in perfect position toward the near post to make a save on a hard header by Kyle Hoffer off a free kick by Becerra at 63:02. Hoffer had another look at the goal at 65:15 inside the box with Terriers surrounding him, but his attempt went wide.

SJU continued to apply pressure and came close to breaking a scoreless tie when Ale Ivo rifled a shot that hit the crossbar at 68:22. Ryan Soroka tried to score off the rebound, but his attempt flew over the goal into the stands. The Red Storm had another close call at 74:44, but Tadeau Terra's shot went just wide.

BU finally was able to regroup and push the ball back into SJU's territory after bending but not breaking against the Red Storm's offensive assault. Shaun Taylor's attempt inside the box was blocked by a defender at 78:35. The Terriers then had a couple of corner kicks but could not convert.

 

 

Finally, the Red Storm broke through at 82:24 when Gundhus made a quick pass to Becerra, who then returned the ball to Gundhus inside the box. Gundhus scored past a diving Hrafn Davidsson from 12 yards out.

The Terriers tried to stage a late rally in the final minutes, but Kitson made another impressive save when he dove to his right to stop a shot from Ben Berube.

SJU outshot BU, 13-5, in the second stanza to finish ahead 15-10. Both Davidsson and Kitson had two saves each. Berube led the Terriers in shots with three.

The contest marked the final game for seniors Jon Jonsson, Dan Schultz, Jin Oh, Hrafn Davidsson, Andrew Bassi, and Joe Cullaro. They helped guide the Terriers to their most wins since the team finished 13-5-1 in 2001.