The last time a true freshman contributed to the Boston University men’s soccer team’s season-opening goal, most of the current players weren’t alive.
It was 2003, and then-freshman forward Anders Ostli scored a solo goal for BU’s lone mark in a 4-1 loss against the University of South Carolina.
Twenty-two years later, on the road against the University of New Hampshire, freshman defender Austin Mobray got a hold of a pass over the top in the 48th minute. With a Wildcat defender crowding him, the 18-year-old got just outside the 6-yard box, got a shot off and then hit the inside of the post.
Mere inches separated Mobray’s first-career assist from being a first-career goal — the deflection instead finished by senior forward Alex Bonnington.
The opportunities would continue to come for the freshman and the other incoming players. Mobray’s early-season point only previewed what was to come from the 2025 recruiting class.
During the offseason, BU added 10 players to its roster: four transfers and six freshmen. After the team witnessed the largest percentage decline in goalscoring in the Patriot League from 2023 to 2024, it was apparent that there were holes to patch.
“Coming into this year specifically, one of the areas that we felt we could improve upon was goal–scoring opportunities and production,” Head Coach Kevin Nylen said. “[We] didn’t score many goals in the ‘24 season, but also, there’s an element of wanting to become a little more dangerous in terms of how we play.”
From the jump, the newest recruiting class has helped the team do exactly that — and then some.
Mobray introduced the group to the stats sheet at UNH, and after his first-career goal when the team played Brown about two weeks later, the freshman earned his first of two Patriot League Rookie of the Week awards.
“There’s a lot of pressure going on as a freshman, but the guys have been great [in] supporting us,” Mobray said. “When I come on the field, I have a lot of confidence, and I trust in the guys, and they trust me as well.”
Two games after the season opener, as the Terriers dominated the College of Charleston 5-1, Mobray recorded an assist, and four newcomers — senior midfielder Ethan Gill, freshman midfielder Sebastian Otero, junior forward Lapo Romieri and sophomore midfielder Pharis Petrica — all opened their accounts for the Terriers.
At Boston College, Romieri and freshman defender Anthony Harper combined for BU’s lone goal. Beyond that, Harper has been getting valuable experience while providing quality minutes as a defensive midfielder among a core of seniors in that area.
In the Terriers’ whirlwind upset over Bucknell University, freshmen and transfers led the charge: Petrica, Gill and Otero scored goals — Otero with his second of three game-winners — while assists came from Romieri and Petrica.
Sophomore midfielder Jack Grossman got his first-career goal a little over two weeks later against Northeastern University while Otero and Petrica bolstered their assists totals.
In all but one game in which the Terriers scored this season, at least one new recruit has been involved, proving the newcomers’ technical quality and their ability to read and connect with returning players.
“Since the minute I got here, [it’s been] a family dynamic all around,” Gill said. “We’re just a great group, and we’ve gelled really well coming into the last stretch of the season.”
As of Oct. 23, five of the top six points-talliers are new: Petrica leads the team with 13, Gill follows with 11, Romieri comes in fourth with eight and Otero with seven, followed by Mobray with six.
“[It] provides the confidence knowing that [we] have so much depth and competition from everybody every day, which drives you to be in your best form every day,” Nylen explained. “It’s raised our level of training [and] the level of competition amongst players in a really good way.”
While contributing more overall under Nylen than any other batch of first-season Terriers, this group also makes up a greater proportion of the team’s total goal contributions than prior recruiting classes.
New players represent just over one-third of the roster and have played 33% of minutes this season. Though this group is made up of more midfielders and forwards than other recruiting classes, meaning this level of production should be expected — their performance is still impressive given their short adjustment period.
They’ve contributed almost 65% of the team’s points — nearly 61% of assists and two-thirds of the goals.
The only season under Nylen with similar production from newcomers was 2020, which was shortened to only four games, and therefore is a weak comparison. New additions played over 55% of the total minutes that year.
Among all standard-length seasons in the Nylen era, 2025 is a standout. The next-closest is 2021, where new players had 44% of goals, about 36% of assists and 42% of points.
The Terriers have played 13 of 16 regular-season games so far. At the current rate, the recruits would be expected to contribute three or four more goals and record nearly four to five assists through the remaining three games.
This season’s freshmen and incoming transfers have been huge for the team’s success as it chases another regular-season title and gets back to the Patriot League final.
What this group has shown this season should lend assurance in continued conference contention for seasons to come, and the staff deserves its flowers for effective recruiting.
“I look at the size of the group and the production that they’ve had on the field as a young group, and it excites me more,” Nylen said. “If this is what we’re seeing in the early days of their careers here at BU, I’m super excited [about] what we’re going to see in the years to come.”
Through the end of the season, these players will continue to be key as the Terriers attempt to clinch a spot in the postseason, secure favorable seeding and then play through mid-November.