As the snow poured down and piled up on the Nickerson Field turf Saturday, it buried a forgettable home season for the Boston University men’s soccer team.
The 3-0 loss to the University of Maryland-Baltimore County capped off the Terriers’ 2005 home campaign at 0-2-2 – without a single conference win. The two home ties came against the last and next-to-last teams in the conference.
And for the second time in as many weeks, BU played in conditions that were less than ideal.
In a 0-0 double overtime tie with the University of New Hampshire at home last week, the skies opened up and drenched the field for the entire 110 minutes of play. This Saturday, Nickerson bore a strong resemblance to Jack Parker Rink as the snow blanketed the field so much that by the end of the second half, the green turf was visible only after a slide tackle cleared a layer of snow.
“It just hasn’t bounced our way,” said BU coach Neil Roberts. “You’re playing in a downpour, you’re playing in a snowstorm. This is a fitting end to our home games here.”
The Terriers opened their conference schedule at home on Sept. 24 with a 1-1 tie against the University of Maine, who currently sits dead last in the conference standings, and followed up that performance with a 2-0 loss to Stony Brook University on Oct. 5.
With the two ties with Maine and New Hampshire, BU claimed only two points against the two weakest teams in the conference. The poor home performance has canceled out the team’s impressive 2-0-1 road record and has left the Terriers to travel to Binghamton to decide which BU – Boston or Binghamton – will claim the fourth seed in the conference tournament.
Wednesday’s match with the Bearcats will be an interesting paradox – the Terriers are on the road so a win is very much a possibility, but a win would mean fourth-seeded BU would host a playoff game at Nickerson (the top two seeds get first-round byes), where they are winless on the season.
Saturday’s game also marked the final home appearance of three seniors, back Matt Cross and midfielders Sam Piatrowski and Sedrick Chin – and possibly the final game for junior goalkeeper Chad Comroe.
Comroe, who has one year of eligibility remaining, is an academic senior and will graduate at the end of this year.
But both coach and player stayed mum on his plans for next year, opting instead to focus on what’s left of the 2005 season.
“You do all that after the year,” Roberts said. “He’ll be graduating and everything. I don’t think he plans on getting his MBA next year.”
Comroe declined comment when directly asked if he planned to return next season, but when speaking about BU’s sense of urgency going into the Binghamton match, said, “You can see out there the sense of urgency and the spirit. I don’t want my career to end.”
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