With five freshmen in the starting lineup, senior captain Stephen Knox stood tall with two goals to give the Boston University men's soccer team a 2-0 victory at Holy Cross on Friday night. In his first appearance, freshman Nick Thomson recorded four saves to help the Terriers win their first season opener since 2006.
After scoring just one goal last season, the 2010 America East All-Conference First Team honoree Knox put BU on the board 9:45 into the game off an assist from classmate Ben Berube by rifling a shot from the far right side of the goal. He then posted his second career multi-goal game at 65:25 after freshman Cameron Souri set him up with the assist during a break away play up the middle.
The Crusaders made three shot attempts in the second half but only managed one on goal, as BU earned its first season-opening shutout victory since beating Army, 1-0, in 2001.
Making their first-ever trip to Worcester, the Terriers finished with a 9-8 edge in shot attempts, while the Crusaders led in corners, 3-1. Featuring the No. 22 ranked freshman class in the country according to CollegeSoccerNews, BU improves to 7-1-0 in the all-time series.
The Terriers will next travel to No. 21 Monmouth for a 7 p.m. start time on Thursday, Sept. 1. They will be seeking 27th-year head coach Neil Roberts' 300th career win at BU.