Despite four-straight road games over the course of half of a month, the members of the Boston University men’s soccer team aren’t necessarily tapping the back of their scarlet and white cleats together and whispering “There’s no place like home.”
But whether they like it or not, tonight at 7 p.m. the Terriers (4-5, 1-0 America East) will host Providence College at Nickerson Field, the field it has gone 0-3 at this season.The first home game since Sept. 16 brings an end to a 3-1 road trip that seems to have gotten the season back on a successful track.
Success aside, BU head coach Neil Roberts insists the team will find comfort in the friendly confines of Nickerson when they finally take the field for something other than practice.
“We like playing there,” Roberts said. “It’s a big field, and the surface fits the way we like to play, so it’ll be good. It’ll be good to get back.”
The team will take all the advantages it can get, especially since the Friars (6-2-1) are just the next team in a long list of strong non-America East Conference opponents, and the fourth Big East team BU is hosting this year.
And as the only nonconference game amidst a stretch of four America East plays, tonight’s matchup will also serve as another tune-up, another shot at working on details – like fouling and taking advantage of scoring opportunities – that the team didn’t execute to Roberts’ satisfaction during the meat of its nonconference schedule.
“Unfortunately we haven’t really taken advantage of our nonconference schedule this year,” Robert said, “but we’ll go out like we always do, try to make our game better and try to win this game.”
The teams were scheduled to meet this week last year in Providence, R.I., but it got rained out, meaning the two haven’t faced each other since September 2009.
In that game, then-sophomores Ben Berube and Michael Bustamante each recorded a pair of assists in BU’s 3-0 win, but that won’t do them much good this time around.
Bustamante, a midfielder, is out for the year recovering from a preseason back injury and Berube, a forward who has yet to score this year, will likely miss the matchup with a nagging quad strain. Senior defender Colin Henry started back in 2009, but will likely miss the Friars this time around while he also recovers from a leg injury.
Both Berube and Henry are on the road to recovery – and could be healthy in time for BU’s game against University of Maryland-Baltimore County on Saturday – but in agreement with the team’s play-it-safe philosophy, Roberts will likely have the pair of seniors sit out the nonconference matchup to rest them for America East play.
In terms of starters, that leaves just senior captain and midfielder Stephen Knox as the lone Terrier that played against the Friars in 2009.
That means it’ll be up to Knox and Roberts to pass on what they know about Providence to a young Terrier squad that is “moving in the right direction,” according to Roberts.
Among other things, the Terriers will need to be wary of Providence midfielder/forward Wilder Arboleda. Arboleda who has had a wildly successful season as a redshirt sophomore, leading the team in shots (14), shots on goal (seven), points (six) and goals (three) – all of them game-winners.
Additionally, the Friars’ defense has held opponents to fewer goals and corner kicks than the offense has mustered, and as a team Providence has drawn much fewer fouls, a problem that has plagued the Terriers this year.
Arboleda’s knack for heroics and Providence’s stingy defense is nothing BU hasn’t seen already this season, though.
“It’s pretty much going to be like playing a Brown or a St. John’s,” Roberts said. “They’re very experienced, proven and tested, and have faced a lot of successful teams, so they’ll be a good challenge for us.”
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