Men’s soccer looks ahead to NCAA Tournament clash with UConn

For the first time since 2008, the Boston University men’s soccer team will vie for the biggest prize in college soccer: an NCAA championship.

There’s a long and winding road ahead of the Terriers (12-5-2, 6-1-2 Patriot League), but their first obstacle comes at the University of Connecticut Thursday afternoon. Both squads earned an at-large bid and the winner plays Indiana University Sunday, but another postseason game was far from guaranteed for BU.

The Terriers crashed out of the Patriot League Tournament to American University Friday, and the waiting process ensued. Yet when BU’s name popped up in the 48-team field, elation followed suit for BU coach Neil Roberts’ young and resilient team.

“From our conference it’s not easy to get an at-large bid, so I’m proud of the work they put in and the body of work from the season,” Roberts said. “We just need to regroup and correct some things from the weekend and see if we can keep playing for another week.”

UConn (9-5-6) poses a stiff challenge even though their record might suggest otherwise. Prior to Oct. 17, the Huskies were 3-5-4 and faced an uphill battle. The narrative has changed drastically, though, as they’ve won six of their last eight matches.

Amid UConn’s current run, freshman Abdou Mbacke Thiam and midfielder Kwame Awuah have shone the brightest. The former has 11 goals, while the latter is a creative force with 11 assists to his name. However, a quick glance at the professional ranks reveals just how strong UConn’s program is.

Major League Soccer’s last two No. 1 picks — Cyle Larin and Andre Blake — both played for coach Ray Reid. Larin was just named MLS Rookie of the Year after scoring 17 goals for Orlando City SC, and Blake is the starting goalkeeper for the Jamaican national team. Simply put, the Huskies won’t go down without a fight.

“Our guys have played against Connecticut before and they’ve got good players,” Roberts said. “They’ve always been a talented team even though they struggled at the beginning of the year. They righted the ship and have had a good last half of the season, which is key and is why they’re still playing.”

While BU is 6-2-1 on the road, they’ll encounter an entirely different beast at Joseph J. Morrone Stadium. UConn averages 3,694 fans in attendance, and Roberts insisted that his team will embrace the hostile environment, even though other teams night be intimidated by it.

“They’re obviously good, but no matter who you play right now, there’s going to be a good team,” Roberts said. “There’s 48 teams left now and they’re all good teams. Connecticut obviously has a rich history of success, so that’s what we’re looking towards.”

As for the Terriers, they’ll rely on the very players who got them to this point: junior goalkeeper Matt Gilbert, junior striker Felix De Bona and sophomore midfielder Anthony Viteri.

All three were named to the Patriot League First Team, and have put up staggering numbers. Gilbert has a 0.96 goals against average, De Bona has eight goals and Viteri, despite missing a handful of games to injury, has 14 total points.

With depth and premier talent at their disposal, Roberts feels his team will be ready. After sifting through game tape, putting a plan together and implementing it in practice, all that will remain is the execution.

“It’s exciting. I’m happy for the guys that we get to train again,” Roberts said. “We trained a little earlier this week, but it really was just anticipation. We didn’t know what was going on, but now we have a few days to train and get ready for UConn and it’s great for these kids to get this experience.”