Men’s soccer tries to rebound from loss

After playing their West Coast trip last weekend, the Boston University men’s soccer team comes back to Nickerson Field this weekend to open its 2002 home schedule against the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

The Terriers (0-1-1, 0-0-0 America East) are coming off a tough weekend against California colleges. In the first game of the Soccer Town Classic in Fullerton, California, the Terriers fell 4-1 to the thirteenth-ranked University of California at Los Angeles. BU followed up that loss with a 0-0 tie against host California State University at Fullerton.

In both games, the Terriers were outshot, and gave up twice as many shots over the weekend than they took. While junior midfielder Andrew Dorman said the offense will come, he pointed out the team’s first priority is always defense.

“Obviously, we need to score more goals,” he said. “But our first aim for the season was to create a strong defense. After a shaky start against UCLA, we feel we have succeeded in that task, especially as [junior defender] Mike Feely is set to return on Friday and [senior goalkeeper] Matt Smith is back to his best.”

With the return of Feely and the addition of junior Karl Ruegemer and sophomore Erik Evjen, the Terrier defense looks like it will be much stronger. Feely was an All-Conference Rookie Team selection in 2000, and Ruegemer was the team’s most improved player in 2001. The BU defense allowed a league-low 1.10 goal against per game last year, along with securing five shutouts.

While the defense does its best to keep the ball out of the net, the Terrier offense is going to have to get the ball toward the opposing goal a little more often than last weekend. Mounting only 14 shots in the two games, the Terriers scored only one goal. However, Dorman says the offense is a work in progress.

“Now we are concentrating more on the attack,” Dorman said. “Our training drills are now aimed at improving our attacking play, so hopefully on Friday we will see the results of our sessions and score a few goals.”

The offense will be centered around Dorman, who led the team in assists last year and was second in points. Along with some new freshmen, Dorman will see a familiar face up front now that junior Alan McNamara has moved to forward this year after manning the attacking midfield. The Terrier attack is also improved by the addition of the 24th best freshman class in the nation according to CollegeSoccerNews.com. Freshmen Jamie Johnson and Sedrick Chin will attack from the midfield, while the speedy Devon Henkis can also help up front.

“We have the players that can rip teams apart,” Dorman said. “It is just a case of everyone gelling and getting used to the different styles of play.”

One thing the Terriers do have coming into tonight’s game is a hunger for revenge. Last September, BU traveled to Massachusetts and fell victim to a heartbreaking 2-1 loss in double overtime. The Terriers were outshot that day, 21-12, and got their only goal from current sophomore Federico Bianchi.

Massachusetts went to the NCAA College Cup last year, advancing into the second round before being bumped by St. John’s University (NY).

“As far as Massachusetts is concerned,” Dorman said, “I don’t know too much about them but they had a good team last year when they went to the tournament. So I presume they will be pretty much the same, strong and fast. They beat us last year in overtime so we are definitely looking for revenge.”

While the trip to the West Coast was a good way to get away from the chaos of the first week of school, the Terriers seem glad to be back.

“The home opener on a Friday night should mean a big crowd.” Dorman said. “We are all excited about the game, so we can get back to winning ways and play in front of a home crowd.”