With just one conference win, the University of New Hampshire comes to Nickerson Field Saturday night to face a revitalized Boston University men’s soccer team, a team that is now unbeaten in its last four matchups.
But for the Wildcats, this will be their last chance to sneak into the top six teams in the conference – and their last chance to make the America East Conference Tournament.
“It’s definitely gonna be a good game,” said junior back Zach Kirby. “They pretty much have to win in order for them to make the conference tournament, so they’ll definitely come out hard.”
Eric Masi, whose five goals and an assist lead the Wildcats, will be the focal point of the Terriers up top. Masi is one of just two players to net a conference goal in six games so far this season, and he’s tied for fourth in the America East in goals per game (0.38) and has three game-winning goals this season.
Chris Bennice is the only other Wildcat to score in-conference and has five total points on the season.
But don’t put a tally in the win column just yet.
The Wildcats may be just 1-4-1 in the America East, but in overall play this season, UNH is 8-4-2. In seven non-conference games, UNH has allowed just one goal and has scored 12 of its own. Goalkeeper Brian Levey sports a 0.55 goals-against average over 14 games and has eight shutouts this season. Nonetheless, the Wildcats are just 1-2-1 on the road in 2005.
“Right now it’s a pretty big advantage [for us to play at home],” Kirby said.
The Terriers haven’t played at Nickerson since their 3-0 win over Harvard University on Oct. 11, “so it’ll be nice to just play at home,” he said.
In recent games, BU seems to have found its niche, both offensively and defensively. The Terriers are climbing steadily up the conference rankings and have notched seven points in the last 13 days to put themselves in fifth place entering Saturday night’s game. BU’s eight America East points have the Terriers well within striking range of first-place University of Maryland-Baltimore County, with 12 points.
They will be looking for three more out of Saturday’s league contest – a game with a lot on the line for both teams as conference play quickly draws to a close.
“[We have to] just stay focused and not get ahead of ourselves and work together,” Kirby said of this weekend’s game, “and I know that good things will happen.”
The Wildcats are at the bottom of the table, just above the conference basement with four points – only two ahead of the bottom-dwelling University of Maine.
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