Men’s Soccer Visits Lehigh in PL Semifinal Clash Tuesday Night

BOSTON – Looking to continue its postseason run, the No. 4-seeded Boston University men’s soccer team will visit No. 2 Lehigh Tuesday night with the Patriot League semifinal set for a 7 p.m. start.

The contest will mark the first-ever tournament matchup between the two programs. The Terriers most recently eliminated No. 5 Bucknell, 3-1, at home this past Saturday in the PL first round, and the Mountain Hawks recorded a 1-1 draw against Lafayette to wrap up the regular season on Nov. 4.

TERRIER TIDBITS

• Seeking its second PL tournament title in three years, BU is 11-7-4 (.591) all-time in the semifinals with a 3-0 victory in 1996 as the No. 4 seed and a 1-1 draw in 2006 as the No. 5 seed.
• Last season as the No. 1 seed, BU dropped a 1-0 decision to No. 4 Colgate after eliminating the Raiders, 2-0, in the 2023 semifinal contest en route to the PL title.
• BU is 4-5 on the road this season compared to the 6-2 home mark with victories at Harvard, then-No. 24 Bucknell, Charleston and New Hampshire.
• On Saturday, senior Alex Bonnington delivered a BU season-high five-point performance off two goals and an assist to help the Terriers overcome an early 1-0 deficit.
• Senior Ethan Gill leads the Terriers with seven goals and 15 points, while junior Andrea Di Blasio owns five goals alongside 11 points.
• In total, five Terriers have delivered at least three goals, and five Terriers have dished out at least three assists. Sophomore Pharis Petrica (3g,7a) is the only one to have earned at least three goals and three assists to reach 13 points.
• Senior Sheraz Saadat is 6-2-0 on the season at net after earning four saves against the Bison in the PL tourney opener. He owns a .745 save percentage and 1.50 goals against average.
• BU is averaging 1.3 more shots per game (11.7-10.4) with a slight 72-69 edge in corners.

SCOUTING LEHIGH

• The Mountain Hawks are 5-2-2 at home compared to their 3-3-3 road mark with home wins over Bucknell (2-1), Saint Joseph’s (3-2), Holy Cross (3-1), Loyola Maryland (2-1) and Columbia (2-1).
• They are currently on a three-game unbeaten streak (1-0-2) with ties against Colgate and Lafayette following the 2-0 win at BU.
• Giacomo Zizza leads Lehigh at 15 points off three goals and nine assists with Thomas Robertson in second at 13 points thanks to six goals. Yusef Gueye is just behind at nine points (3g,3a).
• Anton Kinnunen has started in all 18 games played, earning a .696 save percentage and 1.58 GAA.
• Opponents are averaging 2.0 more shots per game (12.4-10.4) with a 79-78 edge in corners.

SERIES HISTORY

• Lehigh leads the all-time series, 7-6, following its 2-0 win at BU back on Oct. 25.
• In 2024 in Bethlehem, junior Keki Abai tied the game at 55:19 in the second half, but the Mountain Hawks came back 10 minutes later to pull ahead with the insurance score occurring at 67:11.
• The Terriers claimed 2-0 wins at home in both 2022 and 2023.
• BU fell on their last three visits to Bethlehem by two goals apiece each time, 3-1 (2024), 5-3 (2021) and 4-2 (2019).

LOOKING AHEAD

• The advancing team will either visit No. 1 American or host No. 6 Lafayette on Saturday (Nov. 15) with the automatic NCAA bid on the line.
• BU dropped a 2-1 decision at American on Oct. 19 and fell at Lafayette, 2-0, on Oct. 31.