As time winded down in the second half, Boston College men’s soccer found itself behind a goal and only having shot one ball on goal the entire game.
With only 15 minutes remaining in regulation, Providence (1–2–0) put the nail in the coffin on a header off a corner shot. Following the theme of the night, BC (1–2–0) could never answer and lost 2–0.
“Just getting our attacking players back to health and fitness I think will be a big part of it,” BC head coach Bob Thompson said after his team’s second-straight loss. “And then other than that, we know we need to cross the ball—we need to serve the ball in the box more.”
After surrendering three goals in Monday’s matchup versus Siena, Andrej Borak battled with a pressure-heavy Friars offense that tested the freshman goaltender with 16 shots, five of which were on goal.
The Eagles could only respond to Providence with only seven shots, and just one on goal.
“I know he was frustrated with himself in the last game, and I think the whole team struggled in the last game,” Thompson said about Borak. “And I think Andrej took a good step forward.”
In addition to Borak’s effort, Thompson noted how the defense tried to make up for the lack of offense in the loss.
“Honestly, the whole group—I mean, both goals just came off of set pieces, which was just frustrating,” he said. “We were happy with the group, with the step we took, because it was actually a much better performance than our last game.”
Providence’s first goal came with 38:54 remaining in the second half. Diego Batista’s header from around 30 yards out was headed into the net by Cameron Yriondo, allowing the Friars to get on the board first.
Midfielder Ask Ekeland posted four of the Eagles’ seven shots, bumping him up to team leader in shots this season with six.
Thankfully for BC, conference play doesn’t begin until the first weekend of September, so the Eagles still have some time to clean things up.
“In the game against Northeastern, I think we’re gonna have to clean up the set pieces a little bit,” Thompson said looking ahead. “And then we just need to create more chances in the final third because our defending tonight was decent.”