The Boston University men’s soccer team will be aiming to get its first season win this Wednesday against Brown.
The Terriers (0-5, 0-0 Patriot League) have struggled this season to get scoring opportunities, with their lone goal having come from senior forward Matt McDonnell in a penalty kick during their most recent game, a tough double overtime 1-2 loss to the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
BU head coach Neil Roberts called the outcome “disappointing,” adding that BU needs to correct its mistakes and do better on restarts after goals from the opposition.
Despite the loss, Roberts is proud of how his team competed against Lowell and is focusing on what his team did well and using that to help his players move forward.
“I think that we competed, we competed very well,” Roberts said. “We made it difficult for them, and we possessed better against them than we have in the past. They’re a good team and I thought we did a very good job, especially once we were down, to fight back and get the goal back and press them. So I like the way we’re competing and I like the way our possessions are getting better.”
The Terriers have been creating more scoring opportunities as of late, but have found the back of the net only once so far this season. Roberts emphasized the importance of not falling behind early and being forced to play catch-up with the opponent.
“We have to just create the chances. I think in the last two games against UMass and Merrimack we’ve done that better,” Roberts said. “We can’t get behind, number one, and we’ve got to be able to just keep being patient and creating chances and goals will come.”
The upcoming game against Brown University (1-2) gives the Terriers a chance to end their five-game losing streak and start an upward trajectory towards a winning season.
Bears Briefing:
Brown is coming into Wednesday’s match on the heels of a 0-2 loss against George Washington University. Both of GW’s goals came in the first half of the game. Brown’s sophomore goalkeeper Max Waldau posted a career-high eight saves in his first start of the season, but it wasn’t enough to help the Bears bounce back in the second half.
Last season, senior midfielder Daniel Schiller led the Bears in goals scored (four) along with striker Toby Howell, who also netted four goals and has since graduated. Schiller also led the Bears with five assists last season. Schiller, this year’s team captain, has yet to score this season but is currently leading the team with six shots, including four on goal.
The Bears have switched between two goalkeepers thus far, Waldau and sophomore James Swomley of Newton. Swomley has played two of Brown’s three games this season, recording eight saves overall, and was Brown’s go-to goalkeeper last season. But, Waldau played the whole 90 minutes in the last game against GW.
In Brown’s past two games against GW and Howard, the team improved as the game progressed and their play became more incisive in the second half. The Terriers experienced this firsthand in their matchup against Brown last year, when the Bears scored the game winner with less than ten minutes left in the game.
Roberts believes Wednesday’s game against Brown will be a good test for BU’s first conference matchup against Lafayette College (3-1-1, 0-0 Patriot League) on Saturday.
“Brown is a good test because they play a lot like Lafayette, so it will be a good test for us,” Roberts said. “We did a good job in the UMass game of handling that style of play. We’ve got to be able to do the same thing tomorrow, but also get a goal out of it.”