I hear it echoing in the hallways of CAS, reflecting off the stained glass of Marsh Chapel, and even reverberating through the winds that travel down Commonwealth Avenue.
If you haven’t heard it yet, you will.
The resonance that I speak of is the collective buzz surrounding the men’s and women’s soccer teams here at Boston University. All across campus, students are waking to the realization that we’ve got two pretty darn good football teams here. Other students are of course confused by the last sentence; given that they know we haven’t had a football team since 1997, back when BU canned Tom Masella’s gridiron gang.
If you’re confused about the fact that football is still being played at Nickerson Field, we’ll talk later.
Those that are hip to the lingo know that it’s football most everywhere else, but here in the states it goes by soccer. Whatever you call it, the men and women here at BU are doing a pretty good job of playing it. Both squads are playing solid ball thanks to out-of-conference schedules designed to toughen them up for America East play.
With their sturdy schedules in front of them, both teams come into this year in a similar situation as the Patriots. (If you’re not from New England I apologize for the shameless Pats’ reference but sometimes I just can’t help myself). They’ve got bulls-eyes on their backs as they attempt to repeat as conference champions.
It’s a new situation for both teams, hoping to use the valuable lessons gleaned from last season’s performances. The men draw motivation from their season ending loss to the hated Huskies of Northeastern and the women look to learn from their NCAA playoff disappointment against Rutgers. And so far, each team has had an encouraging go of it.
The men’s team started this year off against UCLA, currently ranked third in the country, falling, 4-1, when the Bruins notched three second half goals in less than three minutes. Anyone will tell you that’s a discouraging start to a campaign, but Neil Roberts’ crew hasn’t looked back. Going unbeaten since that day, the guys have rattled off wins against UMass, Fairfield, Dartmouth, and one week ago came the coup de grace, a 1-0 win against nationally ranked UConn. I certainly liked those turn of events because either way you cut it, I’m not a big fan of Huskies, whether they’re from Storrs, Connecticut or Huntington Ave.
Without question, the win has put the Terriers in a good spot to make some exciting things happen this season. Tomorrow they travel across town to face Boston College and it should be a great contest with the Eagles being the 21st ranked team in the nation and all. Off the high of their big upset, they might be primed for a letdown, but Coach Roberts should have the fellas pumped up and ready to go. Of course it doesn’t hurt to have Andy Dorman providing catalytic play in the midfield, Sedrick Chin peppering the opposing keeper, and Matt Smith punching shots out of harm’s way.
On to the ladies’ side of the story, where the captaincy triumvirate of Merkle, Beyer, and Hudak have been seeing injuries and a lack of scoring punch contributing to some early season concern. And their pugnacious schedule has not helped. In other words, they’ve been playing some tough teams. Those games however, will be beneficial as conference play heats up, and that’s the important part.
On Sunday, BU coach Nancy Feldman witnessed her girls get shut out by Rhode Island, 2-0. The telling stat so far: through seven games, and just seven goals scored by BU. But currently they’re amidst an interesting part of their schedule where they play three non-conference games all at home in the next week plus. The two-time defending America East champions haven’t put it together as a cohesive group quite yet, but these next few games are their chance to break out of the funk. The midfield is the strength of this team and also the mechanism that starts the offense. With their level of play so goes the team’s.
The offense will develop, as it has in the past and will be there when they need it, it’s just a matter of time. Where that offense will come from is somewhat of a quandary. My insight is that this team will heap a lot of the pressure on the young Melrose product, Meghann Cook. With the team lead in goals and points under her belt, the freshman phenom should be ready to speed up her development out on the soccer pitch. As far as where the rest of the firepower will be coming from, that is something we’ll have to keep our peepers open for as the season progresses.
Just a quick thank you to all the non-soccer fans who have made it this far through the column; I applaud you but I have a small request. If you’ve never been over to beautiful Nickerson Field to watch one of the soccer teams play, you’re missing out. Go to one game. Go to ten. Whatever you do, get out and go. These fantastic players deserve your support. Catch a game and you’ll see the excitement, the pure joy and energy of top shelf athletes playing for the love of the game.
With all seriousness, if you graduate without ever attending a soccer, field hockey, basketball or even a hockey game, you’ll regret it. Looking back you’ll know you missed something; the chance to show a little school pride and some support for your fellow student. And that is what it’s all about.
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