The men's soccer team continued its winning ways this weekend, capturing two shutout victories on the road. The Bears spoiled Boston University's (1-4-2) home opener on Thursday, winning in the first minute of overtime to defeat the Terriers 1-0. And yesterday afternoon, Bruno traveled to Lehigh University (0-6-0) and won another hard-fought 1-0 matchup against the Mountain Hawks, marking their fifth shutout of the season to improve to a 5-1-0 record.
After coming off a loss to Fordham University (3-3-0) two weekends ago, the Bears placed a lot of emphasis on their tough match against the Terriers at Nickerson Field.
"BU is a good passing team that has been on the road for six games," Head Coach Patrick Laughlin said. "Their record may not be great, but they have played some of the best teams in the country and have proven to be a tough team and always gives us a tough game."
With only 14 total shots, most of the game was contested in the middle of the field.
"The game was back and forth in the first half where we had some good opportunities on goal and held them to one or two shots," co-captain Eric Robertson '13 said. "The second half opened up for us, and we started getting a lot of chances from our wide players: Kevin Gavey ('13), Voltaire Escalona ('14) and Michele Comitis ('16). BU was able to counterattack us a few times, but they weren't able to get successful attacks out of it."
With no goals scored, the game was pushed into overtime, where rookie defender Tim Whalen '16 became the star of the game, scoring just 40 seconds into overtime to secure the Bears' 1-0 victory.
"It was the first time in my coaching career that the winner was decided off kickoff," Laughlin said. "It was almost a shock how quickly it happened."
It was a flawless play - after a hand ball was called right after the whistle, defender Dylan Remick '13 sent the free kick into the box where Bobby Belair '13 headed it to Whalen who put it into the net, scoring his first college goal in his first college start.
"It was one of the most meaningful goals I have scored in my soccer career," Whalen said. "After the ball hit the back of the net, everything seemed to be in slow motion. Scoring the winning goal means a lot for me because, as a freshman, I want to play an important role on the team and continue to have a positive impact on Brown men's soccer."
With a solid win under their belts, the Bears went into yesterday's game against Lehigh with positive energy. As in the game at BU, the first 15 minutes saw most of the battle being played in the middle of the field.
"We made the game a little more difficult than it had to be," co-captain Ryan McDuff '13 said.
"Lehigh gave us a tough match for the entire 90 minutes," Belair said. "We scored the goal halfway through the first half but were unable to finish them off after missing a couple of good opportunities to score in the second half."
In the 28th minute, Belair tipped in a cross from Escalona, scoring the game's only goal. The second half brought more scoring opportunities for both teams, but Brown's dominant defense played tough, earning Bruno's fourth shutout.
"It was a short turnaround after a good win Thursday, but we're real happy with the win," McDuff said. "A lot of the freshmen played real well."
Robertson also praised the new members of the team.
"It's good to see some younger guys stepping up into big roles and coming through when we need them," Robertson said.
With two more shutouts under its belt, the men's soccer team will be a challenging force when they travel across the country to the University of Washington Tournament. They will face the University of Washington and the University of Portland before returning home to kick off the conference slate.
"Going on the road and getting a win is difficult but critical when you want to define yourself as a competitive team in the NCAA," Laughlin said.
