During the long 2011 season, the Boston University men’s soccer team has experienced its fair share of ups and downs, good times and bad, successful stretches and ugly ones.
But tonight should easily be one of the highlights as the team (8-7, 4-1 America East) takes on University of New Hampshire at Nickerson Field at 7 p.m.
It is the final home game of the regular season, meaning the team will honor its five seniors, including captain Stephen Knox – one of the biggest reasons for those ups, good times and successful stretches.
“Knoxy has been playing well all year and he’s been pretty steady for us,” said BU coach Neil Roberts. “[He] is going a good job of keeping everybody in line. He’s a quiet kid but he kind of [shows everyone what to do] just by his work ethic and what he’s done.”
The forward/midfielder has carried quite the load on the field for the Terriers this year, collecting four goals – including three game-winners, both of which tie him for the team lead – on 23 shots on goal, more than twice that of any other Terrier.
With BU tied for first place in America East Conference in the last week of play, Knox will need to keep this up against UNH (6-7, 1-2-2 America East) to give the Terriers a better chance at capturing the first seed and home-field advantage in the America East tournament.
UNH might prove to be not much of an obstacle for the Terriers, as the Wildcats have thus far been an unimpressive team. They salvaged their season after a 1-4 start, but still own a sub-.500 record and have no clear number-one offensive threat. Midfielder Steven Palumbo and forward David Schlatter have each netted three goals this year, and four other players have scored two apiece.
The Wildcats have also endured a tough schedule, including four double overtime games – including their two most recent games against College of the Holy Cross and University of Vermont – racking up a record 1-1-2 record in those contests
Still, Roberts does not anticipate his athletes expecting themselves to win easily or UNH to roll over.
“I don’t think there’s a chance for that,” Roberts said of a possible mental letdown while facing a below-average UNH team. “I think it’s a big game, [and] the points are important… It’s always a difficult game for us and I’m sure there’s no chance the kids won’t be ready for that.”
That “the points are important” mentality is not an understatement. University of Maryland-Baltimore County, the team BU is tied with for first place in the conference, will host Stony Brook University while the Terriers host the Wildcats. The combination of a BU win and a UMBC loss means the Terriers would clinch at least a tie for the regular season title.
The significance of home stretch is not lost on the team’s many freshmen that have never been through the rigors of a down-to-the-wire college soccer season like this one.
“It’s all about the points, so they understand that,” Roberts said. “They wouldn’t be at BU if they couldn’t figure that one out.
“They know where we stand and they know what we need to do, so they’ve done pretty good taking it one game at a time and not getting down after one game and being able to bounce back and win games.”
Despite BU’s 6-2 away record and 2-5 mark at Nickerson, Roberts still wants his team – the defending regular season champions and 2011 pre-season favorite – to earn the home field advantage and first-round bye.
“We have played well on the road but I think eventually we’ll play well at home,” Roberts said. “The last couple games against [Boston College on Oct. 18] and even in the UMBC game [on Oct. 8] we mad a mistake that cost us a goal, but really I thought we were playing them and did a pretty good job finishing. Even though we didn’t get the results we want for overall play, we have been good at home.”
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