After two consecutive home games, the Boston University men’s soccer team will once again take on an out-of-conference opponent, this time venturing to Long Island, N.Y., to take on Hofstra University Saturday night.
The game follows the team’s first two games at Nickerson Field in which BU (2–4–2) went 1–1.
The Terriers dropped the first home game of the year to No. 24 Brown University 1–0 in overtime, but bounced back nicely with a 4–0 drubbing over The College of the Holy Cross.
The team’s loss to Brown University left the Terriers without freshman defender Jeroen Blugh, who injured his leg in the game.
The injury came back to haunt BU, as Blugh’s injury, along with the previous injury to junior defender Kelvin Madzongwe, left the BU defense on the small side.
Brown used its height to its advantage over the smaller BU back line, setting up 6-foot-3 defender Tim Whalen in the box off a free kick to knock in the game-winning goal in overtime.
In the win over Holy Cross, redshirt freshmen forwards Mac McGuire and Parker Powell had two goals and one, respectively, while senior midfielder Michael Bustamante scored the other.
Sophomore goalkeeper Nick Thomson recorded his second shutout of the season in the victory, making only one save in the game.
The one save he made in the game was a very impressive one though, as he dove across the goal mouth to snatch a shot from Holy Cross midfielder Monty Sanders.
Also impressing in the game was junior midfielder Anthony Ciccone, who notched two assists in the effort. Ciccone sent a picture-perfect cross to Bustamante for the first goal before setting up McGuire for the third.
When asked about how his team would handle being on the road again, BU coach Neil Roberts said playing on the road would not be too much of a concern for the Terriers, who had become road warriors in the early stages of the season.
“I don’t think our guys will have a problem on the road,” he said. “They know how to handle it.”
Early in the 2012 campaign, Hofstra’s (4–1–1) offense has turn out to be its strength, posting an impressive 1.83 goals per game.
Although Hofstra has had a multitude of contributions from its squad to start off with a good record, two players stick out from the pack as the ones the Terriers should key on during their game this Thursday.
Juniors Chris Griebsch and Tyler Botte pose offensive threats against the depleted Terrier defense.
Griebsch, originally from Germany, started his career at Hofstra in 2009.
Since then, he has put up an impressive resume.
In 2011, he was selected for the Third Team of the All-Colonial Athletic Association and posted four goals and 10 assists which put him at the top of the team in points for the season.
His 10 assists also put him at the top of the CAA.
Griebsch has excelled for the Pride this year as well, as he has three goals and as many assists in the early part of the year.
Botte is more of a local product, residing in North Babylon, N.Y., about 20 minutes from Hofstra.
The junior emerged last year as a great weapon for the Pride attack. In the 2011–2012 campaign, he started in 15 games, scoring four goals, while only taking 12 shots.
This season through six games, Botte already has three goals and one assist.
His seven points are second on the team behind Griebsch.
Botte’s impressive start to the season has earned him Big Apple Soccer’s Player of the week for his recent performances against Binghamton University and The University at Albany.
Although these two players pose serious threats to the Terriers, Roberts said he does not want the team to focus solely on them.
“We can’t just key on one guy on their team,” Roberts said. “They have a lot of guys that are good and can move the ball around.”
Not only does Hofstra boast an excellent offense, but its defense holds as well.
The defense is only allowing one goal per game and keeping opponents’ goals-per-game average at .094.
When talking about Hofstra’s defense, Roberts easily found a comparison with recent opponent Brown.
“They’re more like Brown — they’re physical,” he said. “We’ll have a totally different game-plan than this. We have to switch things up a bit if we want to come out on top.”
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