Aug. 26, 2012

Gametracker

BOSTON - Continuing a rivalry dating back to 1967, the Boston University men's soccer team will visit No. 12 Boston College on Monday with action set to begin at 5 p.m. The Terriers are coming off a 3-0 defeat at No. 13 St. John's, while the Eagles are 1-0 following Friday's 2-1 road win over Quinnipiac.

Ranked as high as 12th in the nation by College Soccer News, the Eagles returned 14 letter winners from last year's 14-6-1 squad that finished runner-up in the ACC tournament and lost by penalty kicks to Rutgers in the second round of the NCAAs. BC defeated the Bobcats behind first half goals from Kevin Mejia and Jason Abbot with Justin Luthy recording five saves.

In the first contest of a six-game road trip, the Terriers gave up an early goal on Friday to the Red Storm but then dominated play for the next 30 minutes. Unfortunately, SJU withstood seven shot attempts and used a counter attack following a BU corner kick to sprint away for the win. Senior Michael Bustamante led with three shots, while sophomore Nick Thomson had two saves.

BC owns a 22-17-8 lead in the all-time series and has won 11 of the last 12 meetings with the Terriers edging the Eagles, 2-1, in overtime in 2006. The rivalry remains intense though with 15 of the last 18 contests being decided by one goal and one of the three remaining games ending in a draw.

Last year at Nickerson Field, the Eagles broke a scoreless deadlock off the foot of All-ACC First Team honoree Kyle Bekker in the 67th minute and used three saves to earn a 1-0 victory.

Following the game, the Terriers will travel to North Carolina to take on two more ACC squads, starting with Wake Forest on Friday, Aug. 31.