The men’s soccer team (9-6-6 overall, 4-2-3 Patriot League) ended its impressive playoff run last Saturday in the Patriot League Championship against Boston University (12-3-4 overall, 7-1-1 Patriot League). The Leopards lost 1-0 at Boston’s Nickerson Field after winning their two preceding games in extra time.
The Leopards opened up the match with a bang as junior forward Lawrence Aydlett fired a laser wide of the goal. The Terriers came fighting back, forcing a save out of junior goalkeeper Griffin Huff to keep Boston off the board.
The Leopards, who beat Boston 2-0 at Gummeson Grounds in the regular season, were looking to capitalize on the counterattack.
“Our game plan going into Boston was controlling their heavy attack and then countering when we had the opportunity,” Aydlett said. “When they had a lot of numbers forward, once we won the ball, [we were] sending a lot of numbers forward to counter their attack and possibly get a goal as well as take advantage of set pieces, like corner kicks and free kicks as we did last game and the game before [against Boston].”
In the 39th minute of play, freshman forward Roy Biegon fired a shot on net, forcing a save by the Terrier goalkeeper. BU outshot Lafayette 4-3 in the first half of play.
In the 65th minute, the Terriers broke the silence. A BU midfielder pushed the ball forward to his teammate who was able to uncover space in front of him. He finessed a few touches in the direction of the left wing before cutting back inside to his right foot and launching a shot past Huff.
After the Boston goal, head coach Dennis Bohn subbed in more offensive players to try and get the equalizer. While the Leopards were able to get more men forward, Aydlett said that the Leopards couldn’t get the “final pass.”
Lafayette nearly added to the scoreboard in the 82nd minute when junior defender Connor Dawson slung a corner into sophomore defender Nicholas Liebich, who beat his man to the spot, but his header missed the netting and deflected off the crossbar.
The Leopards were able to put the ball in the back of the net off the rebound, but according to Aydlett, the referee called the goal back due to a foul on the Boston goalie.
Lafayette continued to fight, but when the final whistle blew, the Terriers emerged victorious.
Despite the devastating loss, Huff emphasized the team’s effort in the game.
“It’s so easy to blame a loss on external factors,” Huff said. “A lot of people, after the game, were pretty upset with the [referees] and the way the weather turned out. Those are always some of the first things to blame. But at the end of the day, we did play well … We were definitely ready for that. We played our hardest, but sometimes things just don’t go our way.”
The Leopards concluded the season with a 9-6-6 record and will look for a Patriot League title in 2024.
While the Leopards did not win the championship, they are still walking away proud of their performance.
“We make goals at the beginning of every season,” Huff said. “We had eight goals that we came up with as a team, and accomplished six of them, so I’d say we did pretty well. The last two were to win a game in the NCAA Tournament and then to win the Patriot League … This was definitely a different and probably the best team experience I’ve ever had, which is something I couldn’t say for my freshman or sophomore year.”
Grace Sanborn ’25 contributed reporting.
Disclaimer: Assistant Sports Editor Eric Ponieman ’24 is a member of the men’s soccer team. He did not contribute writing or reporting.
