Over this past weekend of mixed results by Boston College athletic teams, the varsity men's soccer team could not find a way to add another win to its record, as they lost 2-0 to the ninth ranked St. John's University.
Last Friday at Belson Stadium in New York, the Eagles challenged the Red Storm in front of a crowd of 1,223, but to no avail. Their record stands at 3-4-1 in Big East conference play and 6-6-1 in overall play.
The Eagles held their own in the first half, and it was not until the 38th minute that St. John's took a lead from which the Eagles would never be able to recover. BC defense could not contain the Red Storm, and St. John's forward Simone Salinno scored his 11th goal of the season, rocketing a shot past BC goalkeeper Mike Cardenas.
Starting the second half with a 1-0 deficit, the Eagles needed to increase their chances offensively in order to tie and then gain a lead over the Red Storm.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, St. John's would score again in the 78th minute before the Eagles could muster any offensive strength.
Salino again was the spark in the Red Storm offense, as he flicked a header into the box from the end line on the near-post side. As the ball entered the box, Cardenas was unable to stop senior St. John's player Tim O'Neill from volleying the ball into the net at the difficult lower near post. At that point, St. John's took a 2-0 lead that would seal the Red Storm victory.
The Eagles never gave up, fighting even while down by two goals. In the 84th minute they had the best opportunity of the match to score and possibly change the momentum.
BC sophomore Uri Magen-David tipped a ball past a St. John's defender and created a breakaway one-on-one situation with St. John's keeper Bill Gaudette.
Magen-David took a shot at the top of the box past Gaudette, and his shot looked like it would be a goal, but the ball hit the far post and was deflected back toward the box. Red Storm defender Jeff Carroll scrambled to the ball and cleared it to stifle the last and greatest opportunity created by the Eagles.
"The defender headed the ball back, I read the ball and managed to tip it," said Magen-David of the event. "I beat him with speed and had the goalkeeper one-on-one. I faked it to one side, and shot the other way, right past the keeper. I was surprised when it hit the post; it looked like it was going to go in," he said.
BC was outshot 15-7 by the Red Storm, and the Eagles only had one shot on goal as opposed to St. John's six.
In the end, Cardenas had four saves, holding the Eagles to a two-goal deficit, while St. John's Gaudette only had to make one save the entire match. Unlike last year's upset by the Eagles of the then third-ranked St. John's, this year the unranked Eagles were unable to overcome the respectable ninth-ranked Red Storm.
Magen-David commented, "[Going into this game,] we felt very much on the same level as them and that we could compete. It was a much different frame of mind than last year, because last year it was an upset, but we were still motivated to play against them."
From here, the Eagles have two must-win games left on the schedule for the year. Both of the games will be played away. The first is against Brown in Providence, RI on Wednesday and then the Eagles face Seton Hall in South Orange, NJ on Friday.
The Big East season is coming to a close and the Eagles desparately need to get back on the right track before the NCAA Tournament.
Magen-David and the rest of the team have a positive attitude for the rest of the year and for the Big East and NCAA Tournament: "[We feel that] it is in our hands and we really are very motivated to win; we still have a lot more to give this season, and we're going to give our best."
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