It’s BC. What more is there to say?
When the Boston University men’s soccer team travels down Commonwealth Avenue today, it won’t be to play a conference game, and it won’t be to unseat a high-ranking national power. What the Terriers will be looking for is a win against arch-rival Boston College.
As the newly anointed No. 9 team in the nation, the Terriers (4-1-1, 0-0-0 America East) will be the hunted instead of the hunters this afternoon in Newton. It was more than one week ago that the Terriers upset then-No. 7 University of Connecticut, 1-0, at Nickerson Field. And it was just under one year ago that the Terriers fell, 1-0, to Boston College on opening day at the new Nickerson Field.
Boston College (3-1, 2-0 Big East) takes the field today as the lower-ranked team (No. 21) after three days rest and a 2-1 win Saturday at West Virginia University.
While both teams lead their respective conferences, Senior back David Fahey didn’t mince words when asked if the BC game was more important than some other non-conference games.
“It’s just as big as any league game,” he said. “The fact that it’s BC, and we know they don’t respect us out there, makes it even more of a battle. Our goal is not just to win the league, but to win every game.”
Aside from just the rivalry, many BU players have not forgotten about last year’s debut of the newly revamped Nickerson Field. After the scheduled home opener was postponed, the game against Boston College became the first game on the new turf. Current BC junior Chris Cleary scored the game’s only goal in the 85th minute, as the Eagles won, 1-0.
“It was our first home game at [renovated] Nickerson,” Fahey said. “So it was a big deal for us. You never want to lose on your own pitch, so that woke us up and set a standard for the year.”
More damaging that day however was the kidney contusion suffered by Terrier goalie Matt Smith, which sidelined him for the rest of the season.
“We owe them a few things.” Fahey said. “We owe them for winning on our field last year, we owe them for taking away our keeper for the rest of the season, and we owe them just because they’re BC, and we hate them.”
The Terriers ironically will be looking toward a few players that weren’t around for last year’s loss to the Eagles. Freshmen Sedrick Chin and Jamie Johnson will need to make their presence felt up front, and will need to fire as many shots as possible, especially with BC keeper Kyle Singer, already a two-time winner of Big East Goalkeeper of the Week this season, in the cage.
Last week the Terriers faced another Big East Goalie of the Week in Connecticut’s Adam Schuerman, and got only two shots on net. Fortunately for them, one went in.
The Eagles’ win against West Virginia, was of the come-from-behind variety. Junior Neil Krause tied the game at one in the 72nd minute, and sophomore Oktay Kilic knocked home the game-winner off a rebound eight minutes later.
When asked about different preparations for BC, Fahey said the Terriers didn’t want to mess with preparation that has won them four straight games.
“We haven’t really talked about them yet,” Fahey said on Monday night. “We try not to put too much focus on an opponent. We spent a lot of our time in training make sure that our fundamentals are there. Last thing we want to do is change our style based on who we’re playing.”
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