The No. 22 Boston University men’s soccer team will return home to Nickerson Field Saturday afternoon for a Patriot League matchup against Lafayette College.
The Terriers (9-2-1, 4-0 Patriot League) are riding an eight-game unbeaten streak in which they have won five straight, scored 16 goals, allowed only five tallies and posted four shutouts. In doing this, the Terriers have climbed into the latest National Soccer Coaches Association of America SCAA poll and sit atop the Patriot League standings.
The team’s early-season scoring struggles are long gone, as senior forward Dominique Badji now has six goals and two assists on the year, freshman midfielder David Amirani has contributed three tallies and two assists of his own and freshman defender Bjarki Benediktsson has four helpers to his name.
In terms of defense, senior goalkeeper Nick Thomson and the Terriers defense have kept three clean sheets in their last four games and post a 0.58 goals against average.
With impressive statistics and coming off a strong 3-1 victory Tuesday against Dartmouth College, it can be said that the Terriers are exuding confidence. However, BU coach Neil Roberts said his team is maintaining a sense of humility ahead of their upcoming Patriot League clash.
“The team is just taking it one game at a time. It’s funny, but it’s all they are really doing,” Roberts said. “We are adjusting to what we need to do and just going from there. I don’t think we are looking past anyone.”
One of the keys to the Terriers’ success through this impressive stretch of play has been the team’s mentality of only focusing on the task at hand. Instead of looking down the road, BU is zeroing in on the next game on the calendar and whatever challenges that game presents.
“The team wants to go out and play well against Lafayette, and I don’t think they’re looking long term, more just at this weekend’s game,” Roberts said.
With all of their energy now diverted to Lafayette (5-6-2, 1-3 Patriot League) this weekend, the Terriers will be forced to handle a dangerous team shorthanded.
Senior defender Kelvin Madzongwe received a red card suspension Tuesday night against the Big Green (7-3-1) and will not play Saturday. However, Roberts said he does not expect this to slow down or deter the Terriers.
“We have to deal with it,” he said. “Guys will just have to step up and do their job. We are confident in them. We told the team that guys would be called upon throughout the year, and the response was great yesterday. I’m confident they’ll do the same thing again on Saturday.”
The Leopards are led on the scoring front by defender Eric West, forward Greg Biggiani and midfielder Ryan Egan, who have eight, five and four points, respectively. On the defensive side of the ball, goalkeeper Sandy Leavy, who has allowed 1.00 goals per game this season, anchors the team.
Lafayette has won two of their last three games and most recently posted 1-0 and 2-0 victories over the University of Buffalo and Lehigh University, respectively. In light of these results, Roberts said the Terriers are well aware of the threats the Leopards pose.
“They’re a very big physical team and great on restarts,” he said. “We will have to deal with that. They’re also a strong defensive team, so I think they will count on that. We will try to be a well-balanced team that can deal with their restarts.
“They are going to limit what we do well, and we are going to try to limit what they do well. Now, we are back into conference play, and they know how important these three points are.”
Jonathan's a New Englander who writes about sports, features and politics. He currently covers men's hockey at BU, worked as Sports Editor during the spring 2016 semester and is on the FreeP's Board of Directors. Toss him a follow on Twitter at @jonathansigal.
