When the rain stopped pouring on Nickerson Field late in the second half of the Boston University men’s soccer team’s America East Tournament first round game last Wednesday, it seemed as if BU just did not want to face the music.

Down three goals and with seconds dripping off the clock in the lingering drizzle, the Terriers (9-8-3, 4-2-3 America East) found themselves in a situation they weren’t used to this season: down.

Sure, they lost their fair share of games, but this year’s Terriers rarely went down without a fight. After suffering a three-game losing streak to start the fall, they bounced back to have a chance to claim first place in the conference by season’s end. These Terriers proved they were more than just show dogs they were a hungry pack. Unfortunately in this contest, they missed feeding time.

BU lost its final game of the 2003 campaign 3-0 to the Huskies, closing the book on what can only be called a turbulent season.

‘These guys have been down before,’ said BU coach Neil Roberts of his players after the game. ‘They battled the whole way … There’s no doubt about it. We’ve been through a lot [of] ups and downs with this group this year. The one thing I have to give them credit for is they fought.’

Flash to Aug. 29: BU entered its first game of the season against the University of South Carolina. With seven seniors returning to the lineup, the 2002 National Soccer Coaches Association of America/adidas National High School Player of the Year in Zach Riffett suiting up in goal, and hopes of an NCAA Tournament berth, everything was laid out before this squad.

BU proceeded to drop its season opener 4-1 to the Gamecocks.

Jump to Sept. 30: the Terriers came off a huge win over Brown University, a team ranked 13th in the nation at the time, after struggling to stay around the .500 mark all season. They posted a 5-5 record heading into their first America East game of the year on Oct. 4 against the University of Vermont.

Shoot to Oct. 25: Unbeaten in league play and owners of a seven-game unbeaten streak, the Terriers entered their matchup with the conference’s first place team, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, with intentions of grabbing the top spot.

They were defeated 1-0 and drove almost nine hours back to Boston with no win, no first place spot and a more difficult road ahead of them.

These games and moments were just a few of the waves the team rode throughout the season, making for a wild and often inconsistent ride that Roberts said he will remember most for his team’s ‘ability, no matter what the situation was, to come back and keep competing.’

‘Injuries are just part of the game …’ – Neil Roberts

If BU didn’t spend enough time playing down at Nickerson Field, it certainly spent enough time rehabbing down there. Out of the 26 players on the Terrier roster this year, only four played and started in every game.

Of those same 26, 10 players missed playing time with some type of injury. Nine of those Terriers also started at least seven games during the course of the year. With players dropping left and right, Roberts often talked about his depleted squad with a chuckle, as if he couldn’t believe it was really happening.

‘The problem was you lose your people for long periods of time,’ Roberts said. ‘Then some of the people coming in off the bench are doing a good job, and then they get injuries that may be only for a game or two. But then it just magnifies it.

‘Then you’re looking for reserves for the reserves,’ he added. ‘But I thought we handled it well. We kept ourselves in some games and we won games.’

One of the biggest blows the team suffered came when senior back Michael Feely saw his season end on Sept. 27 after suffering a knee injury against the University of Rhode Island.

Considered by several of his teammates, including senior captain Andrew Dorman, to be one of the most solid players the first half of the season, Feely needed reconstructive surgery to repair his leg. He would watch from the sideline for the rest of the season.

‘Everyone’s buzzing …’ – Senior Andrew Dorman

Despite the crowded sideline and difficult stretches, the Terriers, picked to finish second in the conference during the preseason, proved that they could be the dominant team many had expected them to be in 2003.

Beside the seven-game stretch where the team went unbeaten and posted four separate shutouts, BU was able to put together some quality wins against big-time opponents.

The team captured the Lighthouse Inn/ Kappa Classic on Sept. 21 after posting wins against Oregon State University (a 2-1 victory) and Rider University (1-0). Those two wins came before its upset at Brown.

The Terriers also established that they were rarely out of any game. In their contest against the University of Vermont, they scored three goals in the final 14 minutes to knot the game at 4-4 and earn a hard-fought tie. Against Oregon State, these feisty pups played almost 60 minutes with a man down to get the win after sophomore forward Asa Frey was ejected for receiving two yellow cards.

BU then captured its conference playoff berth on Oct. 29 with a convincing 4-0 victory over Stony Brook University. In that same game, Dorman notched his program-record 37th career assist.

‘At times, we were very mentally and physically tough,’ Roberts said. ‘Those are the things we have to remember and try to bring up more.’

‘We now have to be the dominant team in our conference …’ – Neil Roberts

While the Terriers will lose seven seniors to graduation this spring, only three of those upperclassmen were regular starters in 2003. The majority of BU’s regular lineup was either freshman (back Zach Kirby, forward Anders Ostli and goalie Riffett) or sophomores (keeper Chad Comroe, midfielder Jamie Johnson, back Matt Cross and forward Sedrick Chin).

And as the conference becomes more and more competitive each year, Roberts said with his young lineup, he feels confident that BU could become the team to beat in the America East next season.

‘I think the conference right now is the strongest it has ever been,’ Roberts said. ‘We know that we have to do things better.’

Although the 2003 season may not have turned out how the Terriers were hoping it would, Roberts did secure his 19th straight winning season as head coach of BU. That only leaves one more thing to which to look forward: number 20.