Three weeks ago, the Boston University men’s soccer team found itself in a rut. After dropping a 3-1 home game to the University of Rhode Island on Sept. 27, BU saw its record slip to 4-5-0. In that same game, the Terriers also lost senior back Michael Feely, arguably their best player during the first half of the year, to a season-ending knee injury.
BU looked as if it was down for the count. But nobody heard the bell.
Four wins and a tie later, the Terriers (8-5-1, 3-0-1 America East) are back in full force, riding a five-game unbeaten streak that has taken them to second place in the America East, and they’re hoping to move up even more.
The combination of an aggressive offensive attack (14 goals in the past five games) and solid defense (three shutouts during that same span) has been the difference as BU has taken down some of the best competition in the conference, including defending conference champion Northeastern University last Saturday. The University at Albany was the latest victim, falling 1-0 to the Terriers in double overtime on Wednesday.
BU will have to keep its momentum going when it travels to Binghamton University on Saturday in what that BU assistant coach Andy Fleming called a ‘good test’ for the Terriers on the road.
‘[Binghamton is] a strong team physically,’ Fleming said. ‘It’s going to be a tough game. They have a lot of confidence they have a lot of momentum.’
The Bearcats (8-2-3, 2-1-1) are riding a streak of their own over the last few weeks, going unbeaten in their last six games to move to fifth place in the America East. The junior duo of forward Stephen Bruce and midfielder Charles Darkwah has led the Binghamton offense, combining for 11 goals and five assists this season.
The Bearcats’ main strength, however, is their back line. Anchored by a pair of sophomores Graham Munro, a 2002 First Team all-conference selection, and goalkeeper Stefan Gonet, who ranks first in the league with a .553 goals against average the Bearcat defense needs only two more clean sheets to tie a school record for most shutouts in one season with 11.
‘They don’t have the offensive octane to score three or four goals,’ Fleming said. ‘A team like that is going to try, like we try to do, to use their defense as their number one source of offense.’
While the Terrier offense this season has relied heavily upon ball control to put shots on goal, senior midfielder Andrew Dorman has also had a large hand in lifting BU to the top of the conference with 24 goals as a team.
Throughout his career in the scarlet and white, the BU co-captain has dished out more than a chef at West Campus Fresh Food Co. but unlike most college students, Dorman’s teammates have not gone hungry.
With 10 assists so far this year, Dorman has moved into second place on the all-time assists list, one shy of Chris Verhaegan’s mark of 36 career helpers. He currently leads the league with .91 assists per game, and sits at third in the country in the same category.
But the Wales native credits his teammates more than himself for his success as a set-up man.
‘The big thing is playing with good forwards,’ Dorman said. ‘It’s not like I can do too much [to break the record] far from creating opportunities for other people.’
With a win over the Bearcats this weekend, the Terriers would have a chance to move into first place in the conference over the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The climb to the top continues at 1 p.m. on Saturday.