Men's soccer draws at Boston University

Coming off a 3-1 home loss against No. 13 Georgetown on Wednesday evening, the men’s soccer team (1-2-2) saved itself from a second consecutive loss on Saturday afternoon, as the Tigers battled to a 2-2 draw against Boston University (4-2-1).

It was early in the match when Princeton looked like it was heading straight for its second loss of the week, as BU forward Dominique Badji scored in the eighth minute and then again in the 36th minute to put the Terriers up by two. But junior forward Thomas Sanner cut the deficit in half, as his 41st minute shot found the bottom right corner of the Terriers' net from 20 yards out. Despite picking up momentum before halftime, the slow start was a takeaway that the Tigers will try to avoid as the Ivy season rapidly approaches.

“I think we obviously came out a little slow by giving up two pretty preventable goals from the run of play,” senior back Joe Saitta said. “Sanner was able to get us back in it with a really solid goal a little before half.”

The Terriers looked like they had a good chance of holding their lead, as they outshot the Tigers four to two through the first 20 minutes of the second half. BU forward Lucas McBride came close to putting the Terriers up again by two goals, as his shot in the 56th minute hit the crossbar. But it would be the Tigers alone who found the back of the net during the second half, as junior midfielder Brendan McSherry scored his first goal of the season on a chip shot from 25 yards out. Princeton’s offense continued to threaten, with six additional shots coming between McSherry’s goal and the end of regulation.

But 20 additional minutes of sudden-death play was not enough to break the deadlock between the two sides, as each side only got off three shots. Given the circumstances of tying after being down two goals, the Tigers saw pros and cons to their weekend performance.

“Going into the half, I think we were confident that we had a goal or two in us, and I think we were able to dictate the game in the second half,” Saitta said. “We had a few chances to win it in regulation and overtime, but it didn’t happen. It was a winnable game, so we are not satisfied with a tie.”

“We came out flat and gave up two early goals,” junior forward Nico Hurtado said. “We responded well in the second half by competing better and being more aggressive, and we had chances to win the game in overtime.”

The Tigers travel to Philadelphia this week for a Wednesday night showdown against Drexel. Kickoff is set for 7:00 pm.