The Boston University men's soccer team will look to snap a three-game losing streak, its longest of the season, against the University of Rhode Island on Friday. The Terriers will then host No. 21 Harvard University Sunday.
The Terriers (3-3-1) have lost their last three matches after a relatively strong start. In those three games, they were outscored by a combined 8-1. BU has not given up eight goals over three games at any point in the program's last 11 years.
This weekend is the Terriers' last chance before conference play to improve upon their recent defensive woes. A win over URI (2-4-0) is all but necessary for them to enter the second half of their schedule with any type of positive momentum.
Like BU, URI suffered a loss to No. 10 Boston College this week, a 2-0 shutout on Tuesday in which both of the Eagles' goals came in the final 25 minutes of play. The Rams are off to a difficult start after going 9-8-1 and advancing to the Atlantic 10 semifinals in 2009. In six games, they have only scored six goals while their opponents have lit up goalkeeper Peyton Warwick for 13 goals in that span.
The Terriers are outshooting opponents 120-87 on the season so far and outshot Brown 17-9 in this weekend's loss. Their offensive pressure may finally pay off this weekend against the Rams' struggling defense, but they will need to make better use of their corner kick opportunities than they did against Brown. In nine chances, they only put one shot on net and couldn't create a single scoring chance from a corner in the second half.
Though URI may appear to pose less of a challenge for the Terriers after a weekend against two ranked opponents in BC and No. 22 Brown University, BU should know the danger of looking past a supposedly weaker team. On Sept. 6, Columbia University, whose record stands at 1-4-1, dominated BU throughout the first half and would have come away with a win if not for a series of outstanding saves by redshirt freshman goalkeeper Brandon Briggs.
The last time the Terriers and Rams met on Sept. 26, 2009, senior forward Aaron O'Neal powered BU to a 2-1 win with two goals. That was BU's sixth straight win over URI.
As for Sunday's game against Harvard (2-1-2), it can be seen as a test of how ready the Terriers are for conference play. The Crimson have played a challenging schedule thus far and done well, beating then-No. 13 Stanford University in their season opener and battling to a 1-1 tie with then-No. 10 University of Connecticut. While the Terriers are hosting URI on Friday, Harvard will play Stony Brook University, who was picked to finish second in America East behind BU.
Last year, the Crimson handed BU its first loss of the season on Sept. 11. They have not yet allowed more than two goals in a game this year and are coming off of a 0-0 tie with the University of New Mexico. The inconsistent Terrier defense will need to be in top form to give BU a chance at keeping up.</p>
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