Men's Soccer Ranked Number Nine In The Nation
September 24, 2002 | Men's Soccer
The Terrier men's soccer team, on the strength of its 1-0 win over the University of Connecticut last Tuesday (September 17th), has jumped to number nine in the nation in this week's NSCAA/adidas Division 1 national ranking.
It marks the highest the Terriers have reached in the national poll since 1994 when B.U. entered the post-season ranked number one in the nation. That year, the Terriers were 18-0-1 during the regular-season and advanced to the NCAAs where they defeated Harvard, 2-0, in the first round. However, in the second round, B.U. dropped a 3-2 decision to Brown to end the season with a 19-1-1 mark.
In last week's win over Connecticut, Terrier senior goalkeeper Matt Smith (Lanchester, England) had nine saves en route to posting his second straight shutout and third of the season, while sophomore midfielder Federico Bianchi (Pacific Palisades, CA) scored the game's only goal in the 66th minute of action.
The victory improved the Terriers' overall record to 4-1-1.
Connecticut went into the game ranked seventh in the nation, and the loss, which lowered the Huskies' record to 4-2-0, dropped them to 15th in this week's poll.
UConn is one of two nationally ranked teams the Terriers have already played, while they still have two more ranked teams to play within the next 10 days. They opened the season with a 4-1 loss at UCLA, which entered the game ranked fourth in the nation. In this week's poll, the Bruins, who lost to Loyola Marymount over the weekend, slipped to 16th in the nation.
Still left to play are 21st-ranked Boston College and 14th-ranked the University of San Diego. The Terriers will play cross-town rival Boston College tomorrow (September 25th) in a 3:00 p.m. match at BC. Then, on October 4th, B.U. will host San Diego in a 7:00 p.m. match at Nickerson Field.
"We are very excited about the ranking," said Neil Roberts, now in his 19th year as the Terriers' head coach and has an overall record of 218-87-43. "But, it's still early and we have a lot of tough matches ahead of us.
"The team has been working hard and we have been playing better each match," concluded Roberts. "If we continue to develop, good things will happen."
