Just when it looked as if the Boston University men’s soccer team had seen the last of its offensive woes, they showed up again in the Terriers’ 1-0 loss to America East Conference opponent University of Maryland-Baltimore County on Saturday.
A goal in the 73rd minute for UMBC (5-3-3, 2-0 AE) that came off a counter-attack started by a BU turnover at midfield would be the game-winner for the Retrievers. UMBC senior Kingsley Onwuka, who was later named America East Player of the Game, scored the goal off a pass from sophomore Pete Caringi.
Once again, BU (5-6-0, 1-1 AE) struggled to capitalize on the scoring chances they created. There were several chances for the Terriers to score throughout the game, including a header from freshman forward Dominique Badji that was accidentally saved by sophomore midfielder Derek McCaffrey.
In the final ten minutes of the game, the BU offense was thriving with extra men pushed forward in an attempt to tie the game. Senior forward Ben Berube had a strong chance to tie the game in the 84th minute off a cross from senior midfielder Stephen Knox, but his shot sailed over the net.
“You have to score goals,” BU coach Neil Roberts said. “You can say, ‘Yeah we made a mistake to go down 1-0 and gave them a goal’, but we aren’t scoring goals, and it is obviously a problem.”
Knox was once again the top offensive player for the Terriers with a game-high five shots and all three of BU’s shots on goal. Knox had the best chances of the game for the Terriers, including a curving shot from the right side that was punched aside by goalkeeper Dan Louisignau in the first minute.
Later in the half, Knox was stopped again on a breakaway opportunity by an aggressive Louisignau, who saved a follow-up shot by freshman midfielder Cameron Souri as well.
Defensively, the team played well for the second consecutive game, limiting the opportunities for UMBC throughout the contest. Most of the Retrievers’ opportunities came after the goal, as BU pushed their defenders forward to increase their offense.
“I think we did well – I don’t think up until [Onwuka’s goal] they really even had a shot on goal,” Roberts said. “That is the second game in a row that we really haven’t given up anything.”
One positive for the Terriers was the return of Berube as well as senior defender Colin Henry from injury. Berube was out with a quad injury while Henry was healing his hamstring, but both were inserted into the lineup as substitutions in the first half.
“It was their first time back – they haven’t trained a lot,” Roberts said. “It’s a start.”
With the loss, the Terriers have some catching up to do in the America East, as they dropped this decision early in the conference portion of the regular season schedule. While UMBC may have been the toughest test the Terriers will face within the conference, it adds pressure to every one of the Terriers games for the rest of the season.
Next up for BU is a trip to the University of Vermont on Wednesday, in which the Terriers will try to get back to the winning ways they had established before this loss. The Terriers were projected as the America East champions in the preseason, but BU will have work to do if it wants to be ranked at the top of the conference by the end of the season.
“We are not one of the top teams unless we can start getting goals,” Roberts said. “I think we can play with them and we should be able to win that game if we put away some of our chances and don’t give up the goal.”
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