Bustamante provides senior scoring for BU

After starting the season off slowly, senior forward Michael Bustamante has picked up his game recently and begun to carry the Boston University men’s soccer team.

In 2011, Bustamante suffered a back injury in the preseason that sidelined him for the entire season. Bustamante redshirted his senior season so he could be eligible to play this season. The recovery has not been easy for Bustamante, but he has put it behind him, and he appears ready to play at a high level.

“From the beginning, I knew it was going to be hard work,” Bustamante said. “I just focused on my goal and, I mean, it wasn’t easy, but I’m here, and I can tell you that I’m over the injury. I don’t think about it, and I don’t talk about it other than when I’m asked about it. I just go out there and play.”

On Sept. 18 against The College of the Holy Cross, Bustamante scored his first goal in about a year when he netted a pass from junior midfielder Anthony Ciccone to give BU a 1–0 lead that it would never surrender in the 4–0 victory.

Eleven days later against America East rival Hartford University, Bustamante registered a career-high 11 shots and scored the lone goal for the Terriers in the 1–1 double overtime tie.

On Tuesday against Adelphi University, Bustamante scored in the 39th minute to give BU a 3–0 lead. Bustamante created his own chance by dribbling across the middle, making three Adelphi defenders look foolish and then ripping a shot past Panther goalkeeper Ahmad Salamah.

As a team, the Terriers are playing more aggressively on offense, and Bustamante is leading that charge.

“Coach always tells me to just keeping working and shooting on goal,” Bustamante said. “I currently lead the team in shots and I think that shows my hard work. I just keep shooting and shooting, and lately I’ve been able to find the net. So, it works out for me as long as the ball hits the net, and I’m happy about that.”

Now in his fifth year as a member of the team, Bustamante has experienced many highs and lows. In a stellar freshman season, Bustamante won America East Midfielder and Rookie of the Year in addition to being named to the Second Team Freshman All-American and NSCAA ALL-Northeast region squad. Bustamante finished the season second on the team with 13 points and 41 shots.

In his sophomore season, Bustamante led the team with 10 assists and was named to America East All-Conference First Team.

Much of that success carried over to his junior year, in which Bustamante was once again named to the First Team All-America East squad, being only the sixth BU player ever to be named to the squad in all three years.

At the beginning of his senior year Bustamante suffered the season-ending injury and did not see any action.

In the 2012 season, Bustamante started out slowly but has been playing strong as of late. That being said, the senior forward knows there is a potential to be even better.

“Just because I’ve been able to find the net, help my team to win and help create positive results doesn’t mean I’m there,” Bustamante said. “There is always room for improvement. I’ve been working all along and I’ll still continue to work hard now.”

As one of only two seniors on the team this year, Bustamante said that he uses his experiences to help and teach the younger guys.

“I’ve been here for already four years, this is my fifth year so I know the way,” Bustamante said. “Being a senior, it’s my job to lead these guys. We have a lot of young guys. I definitely think of myself as a leader so I try to walk them through it.”

On the field, Bustamante leads the team in shots on goal, but he is also known for his strong passing and ability to get others involved in the offense.

“Michael’s a passer and that’s when he is at his best — when he is finding people,” said BU coach Neil Roberts. “That’s what we got to make sure he keeps doing. The more he opens up the game and finds things, like in the first half, then the game will open up and he can beat one guy and he’s through.”