In a battle between ranked opponents, the No. 24 Boston University men’s soccer team will face-off against the No. 20 University of Connecticut Huskies this Saturday, its second of two tough road games to open the 2009 season.
Saturday’s game against the Huskies is another difficult test for the Terriers (0-0-1), who are coming off a 1-1 tie in their season-opening road game against the University of Massachusetts-Amherst (0-0-1).
However, BU coach Neil Roberts knows that the early obstacles in their schedule will only set up his team for greater post-season success.
‘We want to get to the tournament again this year, and scheduling tough teams like UConn will give us the advantage to do that,’ Roberts said. ‘Playing teams like UConn will give us a good RPI rating and a second chance to go to the playoffs.’
A win against the Huskies would be a big step for America East. The Big East Conference counts five top-30 teams among its ranks [as opposed to America East’s one], including UConn, which was ranked as high as 12th in pre-season polls. The Huskies have made 11-consecutive NCAA tournaments and are projected to finish second in the Big East this year.
UConn has only four returning seniors, but the class of ’09 makes up with talent and experience what it does not have in numbers.
Senior Toni Stahl is an All-Big East Preseason team honoree and a constant in the mid-field for the Huskies. Stahl would have started all of UConn’s 22 regular season games last year had it not been for yellow card accumulation.
In goal for the Huskies is junior Josh Ford, another steady force in UConn’s line-up. Allowing just 14 goals all of last season, Ford recorded 12 shutouts and 11 wins as a sophomore.
With Ford in goal for the Huskies, BU will need to take advantage of the goal-scoring opportunities it let slip against UMass. The Terriers had 11 shots on goal, but still failed to touch net until the 65th minute due to turnovers and unfinished plays.
‘We need to do better no matter who we play,’ Roberts said. ‘We can’t give up as many turnovers as we did against UMass because UConn will exploit that. We created a lot of chances against [UMass] but didn’t use them to our advantage. If we can do that, and get more touches on the ball, prevent any counter-attacks, then we’ll have a good chance against them.’
In contrast to the Huskies, BU has not had much competition in its own conference for several years.’ The team dominated in America East play last season, going unbeaten in nine conference games and making it to the tournament for the second straight year. The Terriers were voted unanimously to take the conference crown again this season, in the America East preseason coaches’ poll.
Despite a somewhat lackluster start, the Terriers can take a few positive notes from their play against UMass heading into their game against the Huskies.
Senior co-captain Shaun Taylor has already shown that he is primed for another successful season on offense, putting himself in perfect position to score the tying goal against UMass.
It was his first of the season and likely not his last. In 2008, Taylor tied for second in goals in America East with nine overall and was 77th in the country in goal per game with 0.45.
Fellow senior Hrafn Davidsson was equally impressive in his first game back, preserving the tie with six saves.
Davidsson’s return will certainly help the Terriers compete with the Huskies. Last season, Davidsson started for the Terriers against UConn, a game in which he had four saves and did not allow a single goal, to preserve a 0-0 tie.
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