On a night of honors, seniors shine bright

Senior Night for the Boston University men’s soccer team would have been special for the seniors if it had been just a normal win over the University of New Hampshire this late in the season.

But when two seniors scored goals in the Terriers’ biggest offensive outburst of the season, this Senior Night became one that the team will remember for a long time.

Before the game started, senior forward Ben Berube, midfielder Stephen Knox, as well as defenders Colin Henry and Peter Mehlert were honored in their final regular season game at Nickerson Field.

Berube noted that the pre-game ceremony helped him focus for the ensuing game.

“My parents walking me out on the field and realizing it is the last regular season home game – these are the games you play for,” Berube said.

Berube shined in the game, ringing a shot off the crossbar in the 33rd minute before scoring the second goal of the game in the 48th minute. His goal came on a shot to the low right on a breakaway in which he outran two defenders to catch up to a pass from freshman forward Dominique Badji.

Despite struggling to finish his chances for much of this year, Berube has scored his first two goals of the season in the past two games. The Somerset native has battled injuries all season and has figured out how to excel through the injuries in the past two games.

“We need Ben down the stretch if we are going to do anything,” said BU coach Neil Roberts. “That is going to make everybody else’s job a lot easier.”

Also scoring a goal in the game was Berube’s roommate Knox.

Knox has been one of the most consistent offensive forces for the Terriers this season, and he showed his ability again on Wednesday night.

Knox took a pass from freshman midfielder Cameron Souri, faked a shot and placed a hard rolling shot in the bottom left corner of the net from just outside the box. Tied for the team lead in goals with five, Knox has not only led the team with on-the-field production, but as the team’s captain as well.

“Knoxy has been by himself a lot,” Roberts said. “It has been Knoxy and the babies up there, so Knoxy has been carrying a lot of the load.”

The seniors have been a big part of the team’s success to this point in the season not just because of what they bring in on-field production, but because the team is so young this season.

“[The freshmen] are pretty inexperienced but you can’t really tell,” Berube said. “We all look alike out there, so [the seniors] just have to lead by example.”

While Henry was on the sidelines with a hamstring injury, Mehlert served the back-three well in the game, helping secure a shutout. Mehlert has not been a consistent starter this season, but showed that he is a very capable defender with good clears and good rushes with the ball on Wednesday night.

“It is good to see guys like Peter getting some playing time,” Roberts said. “The back three have been doing a good job.”

Now that there is only one game left in the regular season, it is almost time for the Terriers to make the playoff push. In the playoffs, the Terriers will have to rely on their most experienced players, which include the four senior leaders.

For now, though, the Terriers can be happy with a big win on Senior Night.

Roberts noted that this was a good way to celebrate a win for the players that he remembers arriving at BU only four years ago.

“When they grow up and they had come in as freshmen like most of our team is right now it happens so quickly,” Roberts said. “These guys have done well.”