Boston College and UVA play to scoreless draw

Boston College Athletics Press Release

NEWTON, Mass. – The Boston College men’s soccer team and Virginia played to a scoreless draw on Friday night in front of 1,247 fans at the Newton Campus Field.

The match was the last regular season home contest for the Eagles’ seven seniors: Kyle Bekker, Stefan Carter, Justin Luthy,Kevin Mejia, Colin Murphy, Charlie Rugg and Isaac Taylor. Each was honored prior to the game.

Bekker led the Eagles with four of their nine shots. Virginia outshot BC, 12-9, in the match and had six corner kicks compared to the Eagles’ two. Luthy made two saves in goal for his sixth shutout of the season. His counterpart, Spencer LaCivita, also made two stops.

Virginia held a 7-5 advantage in shots in the first 45 minutes with a 2-1 edge in shots on goal. The Cavaliers controlled the pace in the early going, getting the match’s first three shots. It was the Eagles who had the first true chance of the night 18 minutes after the opening whistle.

Sophomore Diego Medina-Mendez fed a streaking Dylan Pritchard in the middle of the box. The freshman fired on goal but LaCivita made the stop. The ball bounced right back to Pritchard and he took another shot on goal, but a Cavalier defender was there to stop it before it crossed the goal line.

Virginia’s best opportunity came with 12:35 left in the half. Following a Boston College foul, Scott Thomsen took a free kick from 25 yards out. He sent a cross into the box and Zach Carroll leaped to get a head on the ball. His redirection sailed high and the teams went into the half scoreless.

The offensive chances were limited in the second half as the teams combined for seven shots and just two on goal. The best opportunity came for the Eagles with 28 minutes left in regulation. A Virginia foul gave BC a free kick from 28 yards out on the left side of the box. Bekker lined up a shot and bent it around the wall, but the shot narrowly missed the left post.

Neither side was able to record a shot on goal in the two overtime periods.

Boston College (8-4-4, 3-1-3 ACC) will close out the regular season at North Carolina on November 1.