Vasquenza's Golden Goal Caps Comeback as Men's Soccer Downs No. 22 Boston College 3-2

Monday, September 4

Boston, Mass.

1 PM

Xavier University

3-1-0

#22 Boston College

2-2-0

OT 3

OT 4

Xavier

Boston College

Vasquenza's Golden Goal Caps Comeback as Men's Soccer Downs No. 22 Boston College 3-2

09.04.17 | Men's Soccer

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Season Stats (PDF)

Musketeers get massive road win, beating ranked team away from home for first time since October of 2015

By: Brendan Bergen, Xavier Athletic Communications

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Down 2-0 after 26 minutes, Xavier men's soccer rallied to force overtime and eventually defeated No. 22 Boston College, 3-2, on a golden goal by Matt Vasquenza in the 105th minute on Monday at Newton Campus Soccer Field.

BC's Simon Enstrom scored twice in the opening half of the first period to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead, but Xavier was able to pull one back before the break as Simen Hestnes scored his third goal in two matches to put XU on the board.

In the second half, Samson Sergi added a goal for the third straight match, finding the equalizer for Xavier in the 79th minute. Senior forward Matt Vasquenza then broke through in the first overtime, taking the ball up the right flank and cutting in for an unassisted tally to seal the win.

Both teams had chances to put the match away before double overtime, as Vasquenza missed just wide in the 89th minute. BC also had a dangerous chance in the 103rd minute, but XU's Zach Nelson smothered a loose ball in the box to prevent the home team from stealing a win.

Shots were even for the match, 16-16, but XU held an 11-6 edge in shots on goal and took nine corners against just five for BC.

VASQUENZA WINS IT

COACH FLEMING ON THE WIN

On the weekend trip to Boston:
"From start to finish, I don't want to say it was a dream trip because it's only September. But it was a really fulfilling and worthwhile trip. I thought we used it really well from a team building standpoint, traveling everyone on the roster. On all fronts, I think everybody in this program benefited from it. I would like to thank the parents and our All For One Fund team, particularly Alicia Lawrence and Seth Breitenstein, for their work. This has been in the making for two years and was something we've never done before. On Saturday, we did a tour around the city of Boston and then on Sunday we did a tour of Fenway Park. I think we had fun and had an enjoyable, memorable trip. Certainly a program-changing trip, hopefully a season-changing come-from-behind win and really to separate youself from the .500 mark early in the year and get some momentum is great. Thank you again to everyone who donated to help make it possible."

On the pair of wins:
"On Friday, the challenge was to be poised and convincing with command and we met all those challenges. We were very near dominant in the way we came out and took care of Harvard, which is a savvy and mature veteran team. I thought we were really good on both sides of the ball. Today, one of the things we had down for the game was maybe 'find a different way to win in a different type of game.' Having not trailed at all this season and to go down early and then allow a second goal was very disappointing. We have some things to address, but the response and the belief and I think, particularly, the attitude in overtime was good. We're a very fit team and we certainly outlasted them. This is a tremendous win with them being a ranked team from the ACC and surefire top-20 RPI team come November."

NOTABLE

• BC's first goal snapped a scoreless streak of 195:52 for the Musketeer defense. XU would recover to hold BC off the board from the 26th minute onward.
• Josh Grant, Matt Vasquenza, Simen Hestnes and Samson Sergi all contributed points for the third straight match.
• Hestnes has posted consecutive multi-point matches, scoring two goals on Friday at Harvard before adding an assist and goal today.
• Vasquenza has had three straight two point matches and led the team with seven shots on Monday.
• Sergi has scored goals in three straight matches.
• Grant has at least one assist in three straight matches.
• Goalkeeper Zach Nelson made a career-high four saves in the match.
• Xavier has now scored three goals in three consecutive matches.
• XU picked up its first ranked win on the road since Oct. 28, 2015 when the Musketeers knocked off then-No. 1 Creighton in Omaha, Neb.
• XU is now 10-10-4 against United Soccer Coaches Top 25 opponents since 2010.
• Today's match was the first-ever between the two schools.

HOW THEY SCORED

16' | Boston College 1-0 | Heidar Aegisson swung the ball out wide right to Joshua Forbes, who sent a hard cross to Simon Enstrom just off the six-yard box. Enstrom rose up and sent a header low and back across to give BC an early lead.
26' | Boston College 2-0 | Aegisson took a long throw and connected with Tomas Gudmundsson on the near post. The center back then flicked the ball back, where Enstrom got on the end of the ball and headed it in on an angle to give BC a 2-0 lead.
39' | Boston College 2-1 | Xavier pulled one back after a flurry in the box. BC goalie Jack Bacon made two saves on successive shots, but his second rebound bounced to Josh Grant at the corner of the six-yard box. Grant played the ball centrally to Simen Hestnes, who headed it in to an open goal to cut the Eagles' lead to one
79' | Tied 2-2 | Xavier got the equalizer after pushing the play for a spell. The Musketeers had a throw-in on the far side, and the ball worked to the top of the penalty area. Hestnes launched a long shot from outside the area, but Samson Sergi got a foot on it in traffic in the box to redirect it in on the near post.
105 ' | Xavier 3-2 | Matt Vasquenza broke down the right wing and got deep, sending a hard-angle shot on that this time found enough space to sneak the ball in behind Antonio Chavez Borrelli for the game-winner.

NEXT UP

• Xavier remains on the road for a big rivalry match as the 2017 Crosstown Derby comes on Friday, Sept. 8 at Gettler Stadium. First touch between the Musketeers and the Bearcats is set for 7 p.m.