The No. 15/16 Boston University men’s soccer team looks to build on its 3-0 win over Stony Brook University in the America East opener with an effort of equal aggression against a more defensive University of New Hampshire team at Nickerson Field on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
‘Stony Brook is totally different than UNH,’ BU coach Neil Roberts said. ‘UNH isn’t as technical as these guys and they play more of a defensive game.’
BU’s (7-2-2, 1-0 AE) offense struggled to breach tightly-packed penalty boxes in a 1-0 loss to Boston College on Sept. 18 and a 1-0 own-goal win over Columbia University on Sept. 20. The stonewall strategy hurt the Terriers in two ways ‘-‘- it closed off passing lanes inside the box, and it allowed an extra line of defensemen to move the ball back up the field, keeping it away from the Terriers midfield.
‘Teams are learning to stop us right now,’ senior midfielder Richy Dorman said at the time. ‘They play three defenseman up top to play the ball out and keep it away from me, [sophomore Michael Bustamante] and [senior Samuel Appiah] in the midfield.’
Three days later, the offense was cured in a 2-0 victory over the College of the Holy Cross’s 4-5-1 defense.
The remedy was heightened quickness and the catalyst was senior midfielder Samuel Appiah, the defending America East Player of the Week.
‘His work rate in the midfield, he pressures more than anybody,’ Roberts said. ‘He’s the heart of our team right now.’
With Appiah setting a vigorous pace in the middle, the opponent’s defensive front men haven’t been able to advance the ball back out past midfield without facing heat from Dorman, Bustamante and company. Longer possessions in the offensive zone have equated to more chances in a 10-goal, four-game stretch – a trend that will most likely prove lethal for a UNH (3-5-2) team that hasn’t played in a high scoring game all season.
The Wildcats have scored just five goals in their past seven games.But UNH junior goalkeeper Colin O’Donnell has held opponents to just seven goals all season for a .91 goals against average – the Terriers can’t depend on burying shots from the outside like they did against Stony Brook goalkeeper Stefan Manz and his 2.34 GAA.
Instead, Terrier forwards need to move quickly in the box, in order to open up interior passing lanes and get closer looks on net.
And after playing just two games in the past 10 days, the Terriers should be able to avoid the weary legs that plagued them during their September stretch.
The Terriers are UNH’s first America East opponent of the season, but the Wildcats have played No. 8/8 Harvard University and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, who BU lost to and tied, respectively.
O’Donnell and the defense held Harvard’s All-American forward Andre Akpan scoreless in a 1-0 loss. Freshman forward Brian Rogers didn’t score the Crimson’s lone goal until the 58th minute.
But the Wildcat defense hardly needed O’Donnell at all in its best showing of the season, a double-overtime, 0-0 tie, to UMass. 110 minutes from the opening whistle, O’Donnell had only handled one shot on goal.
Last year’s leading scorer, the injured senior forward Shaun Taylor would help. But the Terriers’ coaching staff has been tightlipped on when he will return.
Last week, it was supposed to be this week. Now no one will say.
‘We need to get more guys who will push and make the other team play quicker than they want to play,’ Roberts said.
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