As the second half wound down in last night's men's soccer game, the dormant crowd that half-filled Stevenson Field slowly came to life. Brown possessed the ball in Boston College territory, pounding at the door with the score tied 0-0. With each Bears scoring chance, the crowd buzzed with increasing anticipation, certain the next shot would find its way into the back of the net.
The game between the two Northeast heavyweights looked destined for overtime, but BC threatened twice in the final two minutes, forcing the stadium to hold its collective breath. But two Eagle free kicks were slightly off target. Overtime once again.
After its dramatic 2-1 overtime win on Saturday in its Ivy League opener against Princeton, letdown was not an option for Brown on Wednesday. The 20th-ranked Bears (8-1-1, 1-0 Ivy League) faced off with No. 11 Boston College (7-2-1). Despite coming off an emotional win against the Tigers, Brown was up to the challenge of facing the Eagles and pulled out another thrilling overtime victory, this time by a score of 1-0.
The Bears came out strong against BC, controlling the midfield early on despite slippery conditions. Brown's midfielders executed a number of one- and two-touch combination plays in the middle of the pitch to generate scoring opportunities despite the wet turf.
"We outnumbered them in the midfield," said Head Coach Mike Noonan. "It was (a strategy) that was successful last year against (Boston College)."
One promising chance came in the eighth minute when midfielder Chris Roland '10 played a ball from the midfield down the right flank for streaking defender David Walls '11. Walls touched the ball by his defender, who slipped on the wet grass, then found midfielder Jon Okafor '11 inside the 18-yard box. Okafor took one touch and fired low to the near post from the right side, but BC goalkeeper Chris Brown cut down the angle and made a sliding save.
At 6-foot-5-inches, Brown was a huge thorn in Bruno's side all night, cutting off crosses and using his extensive reach to make diving saves.
"He was a big boy," Noonan said. "It helped that the referee protected him when he dropped balls."
The BC keeper's play helped preserve a scoreless tie throughout the first half, though Bruno challenged on a number of occasions in the frame. The Brown defense held its own as well, surrendering its only shot on goal with just 7:50 to play in the half.
"We had been conceding freak goals the last few games," Walls said. "We were especially focused because they are one of the best teams around." Walls in particular had to pay extra close attention to the Eagle attackers. He played the last 30 minutes of the game with a contact lens from teammate Andy D'Avanzo '11, after his own fell out.
In the second half, BC leveled the play in the early going. In the first 15 minutes of the half, goalkeeper Paul Grandstrand '11 came off his line multiple times to corral crosses, loose balls and even make a diving save where he tipped a shot wide of the cage. Brown had opportunities too, but the BC defense, anchored by its goalie, bent but never broke.
Down the stretch, Brown regained some of its lost momentum, pressuring BC down to the final whistle of regulation.
Noonan said it was the small details which pushed Brown over the top in the end in last night's showdown.
"When you get two teams that are evenly matched, its the little things that matter," he said. "We were five percent better on the little things."
Brown's hard work and attention to detail finally paid off in the first overtime. After surviving BC's two free kick opportunities late in regulation, Bruno pulled out its second straight overtime triumph when, in the third minute of overtime, Okafor received a ball out wide from the midfield on a counterattack. Just as he neared the sideline, he was fouled and a quick restart yielded a cross from Walls into the center for forward Dylan Sheehan '09. With his back to the goal just inside the 18-yard box, Sheehan laid the ball back for midfielder Laurent Manuel '08 who charged onto the ball and blasted a laser at knee level into the right corner of the goal.
"I just struck it well," Manuel said. "I kept it low and followed through."
The goal was Manuel's first in his collegiate career.
"I had no clue what to do after," he said.
With two important overtime wins under its belt, the team will travel to No. 7 Harvard on Saturday at noon for a showdown between two Ivy League contenders.
"Harvard ... there is really nothing you can say (to do justice to) that game," an exhausted but ecstatic Manuel said.
