Men’s soccer anxious to snap losing skid against slumping Minutemen

The Boston University men’s soccer team will look to snap its two-game losing streak when it takes on the University of Massachusetts-Amherst (0-4) Saturday night at Nickerson Field.

In last week’s outing against Brown University, BU (2-2) appeared fatigued, as the ball seemed to be in its defensive side of the pitch for most of the first half. However, BU’s stellar defense kept the Terriers in the game, as they headed into halftime tied at zero. Once senior forward Dominique Badji stepped into the game at the 47th minute, he seemed to inject life into the Terriers, as his aggressive play led to multiple scoring opportunities.

“He’s a little banged up right now, but he’s a key piece to our team,” said BU coach Neil Roberts. “He’s a leader out there on the field. He does a lot of good things. Even though he wasn’t at full health, we put him in the other day to see how he is. He looks pretty good. He got in there and made things happen. With the way our offense is right now, we need that.”

Although Badji produced an exceptional game for a substitute, the Terriers still fell to the Brown Bears (1-1), 1-0, as a header from Brown junior Tariq Akeel in the 84th minute sealed BU’s fate.

The Terrier offense has definitely been a work-in-progress so far this season. While BU stands fourth in the Patriot league in shots per game (16.0), it is also tied for last in the conference in goals per game (0.5).

BU’s defense has thus far balanced out the stagnant offense, as the Terriers are tied for second amongst Patriot League teams in goals allowed per game (0.5). This solid defense is a by-product of BU’s aggressive play. However, the aggressiveness has had some negative side-effects as the team has piled up 57 fouls on the season and been yellow carded five times.

“[The defense] has really saved us for the most part,” Roberts said. “With the way our offense is right now, we even need the defenders up there. And for them to still play great defense and keep us in the game, it says a lot about how strong our backline is. The aggressiveness they, and really the whole team, play with needs to be a little toned down, but I like it for the most part. It’s produced good results.”

University of Massachusetts Amherst is in a downward spiral, having opened up the season with four straight losses while being outscored 12-2 overall on the year. However, the Minutemen have improved in each game. They were blown out 5-1 in their season opener against Utah Valley University, but only lost by a single goal, which came off a penalty, in their most recent game against California Polytechnic State University.

“We won’t look past them,” Roberts said. “I will make sure of it. We can’t look past anyone. We just can’t afford to. I know the guys will be ready, and I will make sure of it. We just have to take it one game at a time, and we’ll be fine.”