The proof isn’t always in the results.
The Boston University men’s soccer team may have only earned a tie on Sunday against West Virginia University, but the Terriers were dominant all day, and will look continue that trend today at the State University of New York at Stony Brook today.
While allowing one goal against West Virginia and scoring only one of their own, the Terriers (7-3-1, 2-0-0 America East) took 16 shots and allowed only three from the Mountaineers. The BU defense held West Virginia in check all day, and usually cleared the ball before it got to senior goalie Matt Smith, who has, at times this season, been forced to make save after save just to keep BU in the game.
But with the total offensive dominance that the Terriers showed on Sunday, only one ball reached the back of the net. And after scoring eight goals in their last three games, someone just looking at the final score would wonder what happened to the offense. But according to BU Coach Neil Roberts, it was just one of those days.
“Today, what can you say?” Roberts asked. “I mean, we did what we wanted to do, we kept our composure, and got a goal back. It was just one of those things. You deal with it, and move on.”
The Terriers hope today isn’t “just one of those things” as they look to gain another important conference win against the struggling Seawolves (1-11-1, 0-3-0 America East), who have yet to tally an America East win this season.
Stony Brook comes into the match having lost its last two contests; one in overtime. While the Terriers are tied for third place in the conference, the Seawolves are trying to pull themselves out of eighth place.
Stony Brook was dealt a 2-1 loss at the hands of Rider College on Oct. 8, as well as a 2-1 overtime loss to Northeastern University last Saturday. Forward Payton Webb tallied the only goal for Stony Brook in Saturday’s contest, as the Seawolves are having trouble putting the ball in the back of the net.
The Terriers, however, have boasted a strong offensive spark in recent weeks, outscoring their opponents, 9-2, in the last four outings. Opponents in the last three games have only been able to get off 18 total shots on the Terriers, as compared to BU’s 41 in that span.
BU will have to watch out for Stony Brook goalkeeper Dan Ferrin, who is currently ranked as the No. 5 goalkeeper in the country, averaging 6.69 saves per game. Terrier Matt Smith has posted equally-impressive numbers this season, recording five shutouts as he leads America East in all goalkeeping statistics.
The two teams have only faced one team in common this season, in the No. 12 University of San Diego. Unfortunately for Stony Brook, their first match of the season came against the Toreros, in which San Diego rolled over the Seawolves, 5-0. BU, on the other hand, took down San Diego by a score of 2-1 at home on Oct. 4.
Early in the year, it seemed as if the Terriers could never get the ball out of their own end, but after averaging less than one goal per game through their first eight, the Terriers have been generating many more chances up front. The game against San Diego was a good example of the new offensive spark. Even though the Terriers were trounced in the shot department, 31-8, shots came off high-quality chances. Against a tough nationally ranked opponent, the Terriers took what few opportunities came their way, and made the most of them.
In Sunday’s game against West Virginia, generating quality scoring chances was not a problem for BU. The team had a countless number of passes across the box, lobs over the defense, and strong runs through the midfield. But when those crosses and lobs floated across the penalty area, the only person there to find them was Mountaineer goalie Chris McKinney. Many Terriers missed headers by a few inches, lead passes were just out of reach of sprinting attackers and long shots sailed just wide of the cage.
While Roberts said he feels strongly about his “deal with it, and move on” attitude, there were a few things he saw that can be improved to further bolster a vastly improved offense.
“We’re not active enough,” he said. “Our frontrunners are not active enough in the box. They have to work better at getting in front of people instead of being behind them. There are times when we don’t get our center midfielders into the box as much as we need to. There’s other times when we hide behind people and we’re not aggressive enough.”
While the Terriers have been utilizing an extra attacker at times over the past few games and switched to three up front in the latter stages on Sunday, Roberts, who usually uses one attacker, five midfielders and four defenders, said last week that it is not something that will become a permanent part of his coaching strategy.
He echoed that sentiment again on Sunday.
“It’s six in one, half a dozen in the other.” Roberts said. “We’re not getting any more scoring opportunities out of a 4-4-2, unfortunately, than we were with a 4-5-1. Until we get some frontrunners that really can take over and get position, we have to take one game at a time and go from there.”
Today’s game at Stony Brook, originally scheduled for 3:00 at the university’s soccer complex, has been moved to the artificial FieldTurf Seawolves Stadium due to heavy rain over the weekend. This will be the second overall meeting between the two teams, as BU holds the advantage, trampling over the Seawolves, 6-1, last October at Nickerson Field.