After clinching a back-to-back No. 1 seed in 2024, the Boston University men’s soccer team is primed — and favored — to do it again.

The Terriers (1-0-0) faced narrow margins and mixed results on the way to the regular season title, going .500 in all competition and drawing an NCAA-leading 10 games. Despite a 178-165 shot-advantage, their opponents outpaced them 24-20 in goals, and the team never won by more than one.

The team started five games winless — albeit with four draws — and didn’t beat a single non-conference opponent. 

“[We didn’t] find [ourselves] for a large part of the season in the win column, and those thoughts creep into your mind,” head coach Kevin Nylen said. “A year later, [we’re] a year more prepared, a year more seasoned, a year more focused.”

The Terries stepped up in time losing just once in-conference to reach the Patriot League Semifinal. Despite 15-1 shot dominance, they would drop their second conference contest of the season as they were shutout for only a second time.

Colgate University’s single goal on that one shot was all that was needed to advance past the defending conference champions and end the Terriers’ hope at a repeat PL tournament title.

 “After that season, we were pretty certain as a group that there was only one way [we wanted] the next season [to go],” senior defender Quin DeLaMater said. “Everyone in the locker room knows that we disappointed in terms of our quality, our expectations.”

Some difficulties can be boiled down to stretched depth and injuries, including those to senior defender John Roman and senior forward Alex Bonnington — BU’s second-leading goalscorer in 2023. 

In the face of uncertainty, Nylen consistently called on senior midfielder Diego Rived and DeLaMater, who both secured positional awards. The two were among the most-used players in Nylen’s squad last season — Rived started 17 games for 1,270 minutes and DeLaMater played 1,261 minutes in 15 starts.

After sharing the field with two-time defender of the year Griffin Roach, DeLaMater stepped into his shoes and earned the same award in 2024.

“They had different characteristics on the field, so it allowed Quin to still evolve his game,” Nylen said of DeLaMater’s development. “We’ve just seen his growth on a ball and his composure within the backline.”

Beyond his defensive duties, DeLaMater tied for leading the team in points and assists while tallying the second-most goals the same year he scored his first.

Rived also found his first-career goal while adding three assists as one of the most important players for the Terriers, and Nylen has been singing his praises for years.

“When we brought Diego in, I said, he’s going to be the guy to take over for Colin [Innes], and he’s lived up to that,” Nylen said. “He’s a guy who does everything for the group in such a vital part of the field in a really important position in how we play. He’s humble, hardworking and he has a lot of quality.” 

Naturally, Nylen named Rived, DeLaMater and Roman to his leadership team. Though Roman started less than half of last season’s games, he showed resilience, returning to play full-90s and earn spots on the 2024 All-Tournament Team and All-League Second Team — all while settling into a new position as part of a defensive pair with DeLaMater.

“We’ve been around leadership groups in the past, and we’ve learned from [them],” Roman said. “Now we’re putting all those lessons into the team.”

Members of the class of 2026 led the team with eight goals and 10 assists in 2024, with rising juniors following closely on six goals. 

Four of those came from co-leading goalscorer forward Andrea Di Blasio. 

Three were game winners as Di Blasio earned All-League First Team recognition and landed on the Preseason All-League Team.

“[We expect him] to continue where he left off last fall,” Nylen said. “He’s got his legs underneath him after not really having played for a little bit in college at Syracuse. Now, he has more understanding about his role on the field and what we’re asking him to do.”

Junior midfielder Jason Zacarias was the most-used underclassman last year, with 1176 minutes in 17 starts. This more than doubled his 690 minutes and four starts freshman year, alongside a first-career goal.

In goal, BU has senior Ben Alexander, who appeared five times for a .750 save percentage. Senior Sheraz Saadat’s impressive five-save debut against Boston College earned him two more starts through his first year on the team. BU has also been rotating junior William Clavier in scrimmages.

The Terriers welcome four transfers, including senior midfielder Ethan Gill, a former captain at Holy Cross. As a regular starter for the Crusaders since his sophomore year, Gill had seven goals and seven assists.

“I thought he was their best player at Holy Cross.” Nylen said. “We’re really excited about Ethan and what he can bring to the table.”

Nylen began putting these pieces together Thursday at the University of New Hampshire, where Bonnington easily tapped in freshman defender Austin Mobray’s deflection off the post for a first win of the season and positive momentum. 

The Terriers continue their challenging road trip Sunday at defending national champion University of Vermont before traveling to Charleston, South Carolina next week.

“It’s a really difficult schedule overall, but it’s a really hard start to the season,” Nylen said. “And I don’t think our guys would have it any other way. We’re gonna be up against it starting game one, and [we] go from there.”

BU hosts Brown University for a Sept. 5 home opener. Last season’s 5-1 loss at Brown was the worst result since 2017’s 4-0 defeat to Colgate, so the team should hope to avoid repeated fate.

If the three-season streak of draws with Boston College falls in BU’s favor, it will be the Terriers’ first win over the Eagles since 2012. BU also has the chance to end shorter droughts against Harvard University and Northeastern University.

Conference play begins at Army West Point on Sept. 13 with Navy visiting soon after on Sept. 20. As was true in 2024, the conference could be very tight again.

“This conference comes down to the last game. It comes down to that Tuesday night, midweek game for shuffling of [the] order and who’s going to be in and who’s going to be out,” Nylen said. “Anybody can beat anybody.”

Conference road visits continue with reigning postseason champion Bucknell University before trips to American University and Lafayette College later in the season. Home fixtures wrap up with Loyola Maryland, Colgate, Lehigh and Holy Cross visiting.

As the Terriers prepared for their first game, DeLaMater outlined a clear vision for the team going forward: “The Patriot League Final.”