Men's Soccer Earns Top-25 Ranking in Final Poll
December 20, 2008 | Men's Soccer
Dec. 20, 2008
CollegeSoccerNews.com Poll | NCAA RPI Ratings
BOSTON - In its final poll of the year, CollegeSoccerNews.com ranked the 2008 America East regular season and tournament champion Boston University men's soccer team 25th, as the Terriers finished the season with a RPI rating of 20. The website also honored Michael Bustamante with first-team all-freshman honors.
With the seventh-best strength of schedule, the Terriers posted a 12-6-3 record and ended the year with a strong effort at No. 3 seed St. John's, dropping a 1-0 decision in the second round of the NCAA tournament as the Red Storm scored the game-winner with only seven minutes remaining in regulation.
Before the loss, BU was on a 10-game unbeaten streak that included a 1-0 victory over Binghamton in the conference title game and a 1-0 win over Fairleigh Dickinson (RPI - 43) in the first round of the NCAAs.
During the non-conference portion of the regular season schedule, the Terriers faced off against six top-40 RPI teams, including St. John's (3), UConn (14), Boston College (16), UMass (27), Harvard (28) and Brown (39). BU earned draws against UConn and Brown, while defeating the Crimson 5-1 at home. The other teams never won by more than one goal.
The final RPI rating of 20 is the highest for an America East team dating back to 1998. The Terriers finished 2001 at 33 with a 13-5-1 record. As a conference, the league finished with the sixth-best RPI rating, its highest ever.
Named earlier this week to Soccer America's Freshman All-America team, 2008 AE Midfielder and Rookie of the Year Bustamante finished the season ranked third in the league and 16th in the NCAA with a 0.47 assist per game average, which was the top mark among all freshmen. One of his two goals scored was a game-winner in a 1-0 victory against Stony Brook, which kicked off BU's 10-game unbeaten streak.
Besides CollegeSoccerNews.com's poll, the Terriers also finished 28th in the NSCAA's poll after concluding the regular season third in the Northeast region poll.
