Head down, staring blankly into the carpet, Boston University men’s soccer team senior captain Richy Dorman pondered how such a promising young season slipped through his fingers.
It was the day of the NCAA Tournament selection show, and the Terriers, the giant-slaying phenomenon that ripped through its first 11 games to a 7-2-2 record, were camped out in BU coach Neil Roberts’ office making offseason plans.
‘For me personally, [the turning point] was the Stony Brook [University] game we won three nil,’ Dorman said. ‘It was like it was too easy, you know what I mean, then we didn’t apply ourselves going into the rest of the conference, especially the next four games we lost.’
The Terriers were riding high after non-conference triumphs over the then-No. 1/4 St. John’s University and the then-No. 12/14 University of Connecticut. Their sights were on making a name nationally, according to Roberts.
Few would have thought the Terriers’ America East opening blowout of Stony Brook would be their last win for four games, spanning two long weeks.
‘We were already looking forward to the postseason,’ Dorman said. ‘We just thought the success would carry on without applying ourselves the way we needed to, and then after we lost to [the University of New Hampshire] the first game, it started a downward spiral that we weren’t able to get ourselves out of until four games later.’
Fewer still would have guessed that in-conference foes could take the Terriers’ simple errors and amplify them to such a great degree.’ ‘
‘We gave up a lot of goals, but we didn’t give up a lot of chances, and that was the disappointing part about it,’ Roberts said. ‘We weren’t dominated by a team, but when they got a chance, they scored.’
The meltdown began against UNH on Oct. 7 at home. After BU got on the board first on a free-kick goal from sophomore Michael Bustamante, UNH scored two goals in the final 27 minutes, on just three good chances, to win, 2-1.
Thus, BU took a precipitous fall from grace, dropping from No. 15 in the nation to No. 57, and nearly lost its spot in the conference tournament.
After UNH followed the University of Hartford, Binghamton University and the University of Maryland-Baltimore County. In three of the four losses during that streak, the Terriers faltered late in the game, giving up seven second-half goals during that losing streak.
‘ ‘ ‘ On Oct. 10 versus Hartford, sophomore midfielder Ryan Shea’s 73rd minute red card seriously disabled BU just two minutes after junior Aaron O’Neal’s game-tying goal. A man down, the Terriers yielded two goals down the stretch to lose 3-1.
On Oct. 16 against Binghamton University, the Terriers put themselves in a hole in the fifth minute when a defenseman’s header back to goalkeeper Hrafn Davidsson didn’t quite have enough juice to make it into the senior’s hands.
‘If you look at the Binghamton game, we tried to make a back pass to the goalkeeper and we don’t pass it back and it just deadens the ball for the guy to come in [to score],’ Roberts said. ‘When you look at the first goal in the UMBC game, we don’t close a guy down or we give a guy a free header and then, boom, it’s in the back of the goal.’
The team didn’t deal with America East disappointment well.
‘And looking back, I think the problem was that we didn’t deal with adversity well. Letting up a goal was kind of a slap in the face,’ Roberts said.
BU’s backline had begun the year on a record pace, giving up just four goals through its first nine games on track to challenge the start of the 1985 squad, which gave up just five goals through its first 11 games.
But in conference play, the defense lost its identity, zealous to help the offense combat the conservative defensive strategies of America East foes and feeling obligated to rally on teams they thought they should embarrass, even when they were already up.
‘That killer instinct put us in trouble, where we try to get the second goal, and we push forward and expose ourselves,’ Roberts said. ‘That cost us giving up a goal.’
Fluke mistakes and a porous defense put the Terriers in a dark place, and a handicapped offense wasn’t enough overcome those flaws.
‘After two, it’s like we still had a good season ‘-‘- can still recover, but by the third and fourth game everyone was deflated,’ Dorman said. ‘It was a pretty difficult environment to be in. A lot of people that weren’t involved in playing time but were a part of the team just lost interest. Even the starters found it hard to keep progressing.’
The loss of star senior forward Shaun Taylor to a torn foot tendon set BU back nine 2008 goals. The emergence of junior forward Aaron O’Neal, and his 11 goals, helped.
But what started with physical errors became a mental problem.
‘It was like we didn’t want to be there, we just wanted to go through the motions and play the game,’ Dorman said.
A team meeting leading into a can’t-lose against the University of Vermont helped turn around team morale for the final stretch, but the Terriers returned to form in their final game.
Up a goal at the end of the first half, BU allowed Hartford to score twice in the second stanza and steal an America East Tournament first-round game from the Terriers, ending BU’s season in a fitting manner.
The Terriers finished 9-7-2, 3-4 in the America East. Stony Brook, the team they held without a shot on goal in their America East opener, punched its ticket to the tournament with a championship victory.
‘The frustrating thing is, you look at the teams that are going to be announced later this afternoon [for the NCAA Tournament], we were 3-2-1 against those teams,’ Roberts said.
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