Road-weary Terriers head to Orono

The Boston University men’s soccer team will look to raise its record above .500 for the first time this season today against the University of Maine in Orono, Me.
With Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Binghamton University at Nickerson Field, the Terriers evened their record at 5-5-2 and improved to 2-1-0 in America East play. The Black Bears (3-6-2, 0-2-1) are coming off of a 2-0 road loss to the University of Hartford over the weekend.
Much like the game against Binghamton, the Terriers hope to crack Maine’s defense in an effort to win their third straight contest.
‘Maine is a young team,’ BU coach Neil Roberts said. ‘They’re possession oriented and they’ll try to catch you off the counterattack. They’re a pretty good defensive team. They haven’t given up a lot of goals, but they haven’t scored a lot of goals either.’
The Terriers need their offense to come alive on the road, where they have struggled all season. BU is 1-3-1 and has scored only two goals away from Nickerson.
But BU does not lack offensive potential. At home, the Terriers have showed they have the ability to break down defenses and score goals. Junior forward Shaun Taylor leads the Terriers in goals and points with six and 13, respectively. Freshman midfielder Michael Bustamante is next in points with nine and is currently tied for fourth in the league with five assists.
In the past week, Bustamante has been instrumental to the Terriers’ success. After scoring BU’s lone goal in a 1-0 win over Stony Brook University, Bustamante earned assists on both Terrier goals in this weekend’s 2-0 decision against Binghamton.
‘Michael just has to play his role, like everybody else,’ Roberts said. ‘He doesn’t have to do anything special. He has to defensively get back and help us, but his job is also to distribute the ball, which he’s doing a good job with.’
Roberts said the defense will be key for the Terriers to win today in Orono.
‘We’re going to stick to what we’ve been doing and hopefully be clean defensively like we were the other day [against Binghamton], and be able to possess the ball and put [Maine] under pressure,’ Roberts said.
The Terrier defense has been strong lately, posting two consecutive shutouts. Senior goalkeeper Hrafn Davidsson has recorded three shutouts on the season and has combined with junior goalkeeper Joe Cullaro for two others. Davidsson currently has a 1.11 goals-against average and a .729 save percentage.
‘[Davidsson] has been playing very well in the last couple of games,’ Roberts said. ‘He’s good coming off his line. He didn’t have to make a lot of saves in the Binghamton game, but he was good on the crosses and if he gets a little more consistent on his distribution, I think he’ll keep improving as the season goes on.’
The backline rotation of senior captain Dan Schultz, junior Richy Dorman, sophomore Matt Shea and freshman Colin Henry has protected Davidsson well. Davidsson only faced one shot on goal Saturday, as the defense was able to stifle Binghamton’s attack.