For the second time in a week, the No. 13 Boston College men's soccer team lost to an unranked opponent, when the Eagles fell on the road to the North Carolina State Wolfpack on Saturday night. After losing 1-0 at home to the Brown Bears on Tuesday, the Eagles lost 2-0 to the Wolfpack at the NC State Method Road Soccer Stadium in Raleigh, N.C.
Junior striker Ronnie Bouemboue notched both tallies for the Wolfpack (2-5-1, 1-2-0 ACC), while keeper Christopher Widman recorded his first shutout of the year against the visiting Eagles (3-4-1, 1-2-0 ACC). BC has now failed to score in three of its last four matches, the lone outlier being the 4-1 domination of North Carolina a week ago. The Wolfpack win snapped BC's three-game unbeaten streak against NC State (2-0-1).
"We played well at times, but [NC State] played well too," said BC head coach Ed Kelly. "They were hungrier than we were, and they hung on in the end. By the end of the game, we were just trying too hard to make something happen."
The Eagles had a chance to strike first when Shawn Chin took aim for the net in the 17th minute. The sophomore midfielder's shot struck the crossbar, however, as the Eagles saw their best opportunity to score go for naught.
Bouemboue scored his first goal mere seconds before the referee blew the whistle for halftime. Midfielder Alan Sanchez found an open Bouemboue in the penalty box off a throw-in; the junior striker dribbled quickly toward the middle of the field and struck a hard shot that found the back of the net.
Scoring became more difficult in the second half, as overcast skies gave way to heavy rain. The Eagles were repeatedly frustrated by Widman in net, as the junior keeper stopped all eight of BC's shots on goal. BC held a 7-1 corner kick advantage in the second half, but did not capitalize on any of those chances.
Despite the efforts of Paul Gerstenberger, Mike Konicoff, and Mor Avi Hanan, each of whom had two shots on net, the Eagles were unable to muster enough offense to score. Reigning NSCAA Player of the Week Alejandro Bedoya was held in check for the second straight game after his hat trick against North Carolina last week. The All-American midfielder was kept to one shot all night.
NC State put the lead out of reach in the waning moments of the game. With the entire Eagle lineup pressing forward in an effort to score an equalizer during the final minute of the game, the Wolfpack added an insurance goal courtesy of Bouemboue again. The junior scored off a long clearance by freshman Watt Williams with just two seconds remaining in the contest.
"We've been playing catch-up these past few games because we have allowed the other team to score first," Kelly said. "We have to start scoring first, making the other team chase us. And that starts with putting away chances, which we haven't been doing."
As it stands, BC only has one remaining ranked opponent on its schedule: No. 1 Wake Forest. The Eagles, however, are currently struggling to beat even unranked teams. On Friday night, BC will play host to the Duke Blue Devils at Newton Campus Soccer Complex. This game could go a long way toward determining what kind of season the Eagles will have.
2008 Woodie Awards
