After back-to-back losses to Big East Conference opponents, the Boston University men’s soccer team will face the University of Connecticut, the top team in the conference standings, on Friday.
UConn is currently ranked third in the country, and will likely be the best opponent BU faces this season as it hopes to avoid capping off a winless home stand.
“They’re a good team, there’s no doubt about it,” BU coach Neil Roberts said. “They’re well coached, they’re very athletic, very technical, and very experienced. It will be a fun game to play.”
After winning its season opener, BU (1-3) has lost three in a row, including two shutouts. The team has created chances to score, but could not convert these opportunities into goals.
“We have to finish off chances, which has been a problem so far,” Roberts said. “We have to be able to keep our shape and our composure, and that’s all we really need to worry about right now.”
After Friday’s loss to Seton Hall University in overtime, Roberts stressed the need to correct the little mistakes that were preventing the Terriers from winning.
“They’re trying and they’re recognizing it — I think you’ll see an improvement,” Roberts said. “Obviously against Connecticut you can’t make mistakes because they will punish you quickly.”
UConn (5-0) has been a force to be reckoned with thus far, knocking off all of its opponents, including then-No. 7 University of California-Berkeley.
Defensively the Terriers will have their hands full, as they will have to focus on sophomore forward Mamadou Doudou Diouf. The Senegal native is the Huskies’ leading scorer, having scored five goals in five games this season, including a hat trick against California.
“You’re not going to change things up and worry about one guy, because they are talented enough that they have three or four more guys that can hurt you,” Roberts said.
On the other end of the field, the Terriers’ forwards will have their work cut out with them against a stingy defense. UConn has only allowed two goals in the five games they have played, partly thanks to the play of last week’s Big East Defensive Player of the Week, sophomore defender Andrew Jean-Baptiste.
For the Terriers, freshman forward Dominique Badji looks to build off his first career goal against Seton Hall. Badji has shown great speed and athleticism so far this season, and converted on an opportunity from a nice cross by freshman defender Sanford Spivey.
“You never know if the ball is going to fall for you, but he is a goal scorer. He is going to score a lot of goals for us over the next four years,” Roberts said.
BU sophomore defender Kelvin Madzongwe has made appearances in the past two games after recovering from injury. With two games to shake off the rust, the reigning America East Rookie of the Year should be back in the lineup as a regular contributor from the back end.
“He’s close,” Roberts said. “He has had a good week of training and he is close to where we need him to be.”
If the Terriers can prevail with a win in this game, Roberts will get the elusive 300th win of his career after three failed attempts so far. Roberts, who has been the head coach at BU for 27 seasons, has shown more interest in the progress of this year’s team than his own career milestone.
“We wouldn’t be scheduling games like this if that was what we were concerned about,” Roberts said. “We are concerned about playing the best teams and being the best team we can be. That is what our goal has always been.”
