The Boston University men’s soccer team will take the turf at Nickerson Field Tuesday for the second time this season against Siena College.
Looking to bounce back from a 3-2 defeat by Boston College, the Terriers (1-1) hope to get back on a winning track when they go head-to-head with the Saints (0-1-2).
So far this season, the Saints have had difficulty breaking into the win column. In three matches they are still winless, though they have drawn twice — once against the University of Hartford and once against the University of New Hampshire.
In order to start winning, the Saints will have to figure out who will be in net. Goalkeeper Ryan Vyskocil had a rough outing in the team’s first game against Rutgers University. After letting up four goals in less than 60 minutes, he was replaced in net by Gianni Carillo. Carillo then started the following game against Hartford (1-0-2), in which he only allowed one goal.
While Vyskocil appears to be the starter, Carillo has been far superior in net. Both have played similar minutes, yet Vyskocil is allowing over five times as many goals per game and his save percentage is nearly 30 percent lower than that of Carillo’s.
Offensively, the Saints could not ask for more from forward Junior Rosero. Recently named MAAC Wilson Offensive Player of the Week, Rosero leads the conference in points with six, which includes the tying goal in the 83rd minute of their game against Hartford. Siena thrives on scoring in the late minutes. Out of their six goals, five have come in the second half.
That puts pressure on the Terriers’ back line, which has struggled this season. Should junior goalkeeper Matt Gilbert and senior defender Jeroen Blugh have communication issues like they did against BC (3-1-0), the Saints may be able to score late in Tuesday’s contest.
BU coach Neil Roberts said he wants to see the defense making strides, but also that Siena’s fast-paced offense will be a formidable opponent.
“Obviously the key is to keep improving defensively,” Roberts said. “We’ve been making some mistakes and we’re working on it, so I think tomorrow will be a good test to see if we can cut those mistakes down and hopefully stop giving [up] soft goals.”
For the Terriers offense, they have not had to look further than junior forward Felix De Bona. De Bona leads the team both in points with five, and goals with two. Freshman forward T.J. Butzke is right behind him with three points and a goal, yet Butzke has played nearly twice as long.
While De Bona has been making the most of his chances so far this season, his goals have also been extraordinarily timely. Both of his goals were equalizers, and they each came deep into the second half.
“T.J.’s a young kid,” Roberts said. “He’s learning, he’s getting himself in good positions and he’s got a long way to go. Felix is working hard.”
While De Bona and Butzke have been solid, Roberts thinks that the offense still has room for improvement and needs to be better-rounded to succeed down the road.
“The key is we have to get our flanks more involved in it,” Roberts said. “It’s got to be a collective attack, not just two guys. So again that’s a work in progress. There are a lot of new players out there, a lot of new faces so we just need to see improvement from what we did against Boston College. We saw some bright spots in that game and now we’ve got to be able to put that together for a longer period of time.”
