M. soccer to face Vermont

Amid a season-high winning streak and a strong start in America East conference play, the Boston University men’s soccer team will take on the University of Vermont at Nickerson Field on Wednesday night.

The Terriers (7-3-1) enter the game against the Catamounts (6-4-3) fresh off a 2-0 win against the University of Hartford last Saturday. The win extended BU’s win streak to four games and kept them undefeated through two games in conference play.

“I think people are starting to get their roles now,” said BU coach Neil Roberts. “People are fitting into what we’re looking for and what our expectations are.”

Particularly critical for the Terriers in this recent wave of success has been the play of junior midfielder/striker Ben Berube. Since being moved from outside midfield to forward, Berube has tallied five goals over the Terriers’ past four games, tying him with senior forward Aaron O’Neal for the team-high in goals (five).

“I’ve been scoring. We’ve been winning. Everything’s been working,” Berube said after Saturday’s win. “It’s not only me. It’s the whole team’s effort. As a team, we’re just doing really good, and we need to keep it up.”

The Terriers have scored nine goals over these four wins. Roberts feels that this offensive output extends beyond Berube’s scoring acumen, having cited the strong play of junior striker Stephen Knox and junior midfielder Michael Bustamante in this span as well.

Equally critical to BU’s win streak have been the combined efforts of the BU defense and redshirt freshman goalkeeper Brandon Briggs, the reigning America East Rookie of the Week, in preventing goals. The Terriers have only surrendered only two goals in the past four contests, a period which has seen Briggs’ goals-against average drop from 1.43 down to 1.09.

The Catamounts will present a tough challenge to a Terrier team that seems to be hitting its stride at a crucial time in America East play.

Vermont is seen by many as one of the favorites to contend for the conference title. The team has already picked up a handful of impressive victories, most notably a 2-1 overtime win at home over then-No. 13 Stanford on Sept. 1.

“They got off to a very good start, so I think they’ve got a lot of confidence going for them,” Roberts said.

The Catamounts are 1-1 in AE contests, having defeated the University of New Hampshire 1-0 on Oct. 2 before losing to Binghamton University 1-0 a week later on the road.

Vermont’s offense is undoubtedly predicated upon the play of junior forward Nick O’Neill. Through the Catamounts’ first 13 games, O’Neill is the team leader in goals (6) and points (15). To properly put those numbers into perspective, the next closest Catamount in each category has only two goals and six points.

Defensively, Vermont has remained stout for much of the year behind the play of a solid back line and the goalkeeper tandem of graduate student Xan Rousselle and sophomore Dave Ramada. Between the defense and the goalies, the Catamounts have given up an average of 1.08 goals per game.

Both offensively and defensively, Vermont figures to present BU with one of the more physical opponents that they have seen thus far.

“They’re physically very big and strong,” Roberts said. “We’ve got to be good on set plays. We’ve got to be able to battle when we need to battle and try to impose our game on them. That will be the big challenge.”

BU defeated Vermont 2-1 on the road in the teams’ only matchup last season.

However, the Catamounts have improved greatly since then, having already easily surpassed their 1-10-5 record in 2009.

As the conference season continues, the Terriers hope to continue their winning ways as challenges present themselves, picking up any critical points that they can along the way.

“The points are very important, and you try to pick up as many as you can,” Roberts said. “We’re pretty healthy now, which is good, and we just have to improve and keep getting better.”