The Boston University men’s soccer team will be hoping to bag its third conference victory in its game against the United States Naval Academy Saturday.
The Terriers (3-8-3, 2-2-1 Patriot League) have struggled with consistency in their performances this season, with sporadic upturns and downfalls in performance.
BU head coach Neil Roberts said he is hoping the Terriers can recover from the injury bug to help turn around the season.
“Right now, we’ve got a lot of players in different positions, and they need to settle in,” Roberts said. “Hopefully we’ll have a few guys back by the Navy game.”
Currently, BU only has one win in its previous five games, having scored three goals but conceded seven during that stretch.
The game against Navy (1-10-1, 0-5-0 Patriot League) gives the Terriers a chance for a conference win against a team that is currently winless in the Patriot League and is currently at the bottom of the league standings.
The Midshipmen’s only win of the season came Sept. 5 in a 4-0 shutout against Howard University.
They have been shut out themselves five times this season, but freshman forward Jacob Williams scored the team’s lone goal in its most recent match, a 1-4 loss to the United States Military Academy.
Navy’s biggest problem this season has been its weak defense, which has led to them conceding 14 goals in its 5 conference outings so far this season.
With a .641 save percentage, the Midshipmen have the worst save percentage in the league.
While the team has four goalkeepers, sophomore goalkeeper Ian Bramblett has earned the majority of starts and has a save percentage slightly above the team average with .660.
The Midshipmen’s shots per game for and against, however, remain a much closer 12.5 to 14.
Williams leads Navy in points and goals.
This year’s record is on pace with the Midshipmen’s performance last season, where they went 2-13-2.
When the two teams last met, it was on Nickerson Field, where sophomore midfielder Toti Knutsson scored an early goal in what ended in a 1-0 victory, earning senior goalkeeper Mike Bernardi his fifth shutout of the season.
The win added to a 4-1-0 Terrier record against Navy.
Roberts insisted that record don’t matter on the playing field, and with his team’s back against the wall with injuries, he said he wants his team to treat the game as a must win.
“I think if you look at the freshmen and sophomores, they are playing very well,” Roberts said. “I think that they are playing a little more than they’d like, but we are at that part of the season where we can’t really see them as freshmen anymore.”
Freshmen defender Nate Cole, forward John Siracuse and midfielder Kari Petursson all came under special praise from their coach for their performances in the last few games.
Petursson has three assists this season, tied at the top with midfielders senior T.J. Butzke, junior Satchel Cortet and Knutsson.
One feature of the Terrier performances this season has been the late goals they have conceded.
They are winless in overtime and conceded two goals in the last 10 minutes against Loyola University Maryland.
Roberts attributed this to the fatigue in the team and not a lack of concentration as the games wound down.
“We think that even with the amount of injuries, we played well and we showed it in parts against Loyola,” Roberts said. “So now it’s all about getting some confidence and getting the points.”
Roberts said he believes his team has prepared enough for the upcoming run of four straight league games to end the season.
Being on the backfoot early on can cause teams to relentlessly attack, which Roberts said he believes may have tired his team out.
“In the Loyola game, we pushed forward for a goal and hence got stretched and some costly mistakes,” Roberts said. “We don’t possess the ball the way we like to, and that forces us to defend more than we need to. It’s a matter more of fatigue than concentration.”
