Nov. 6, 2009
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Coach Roberts Preview | BU All-Access: N. Prunier Interview
BOSTON - Entering the 2009 America East Championship as the No. 6 seed, the Boston University men's soccer team begins its title defense at No. 3 Hartford on Saturday with action set to begin at 7 p.m. To earn the automatic NCAA berth, the Terriers (9-6-2, 3-4-0 AE) will face the uphill battle of having to win three consecutive games on the road, starting with the Hawks (7-7-2, 4-2-1 AE).
In his 25th year as head coach, Neil Roberts has guided BU to seven conference tournament titles along with 24 winning seasons. He may be facing his most difficult challenge yet, as the America East has never handed the trophy to a team outside the top three seeds since the six-team field format began in 2001. Northeastern reached the final as the No. 5 seed in 2003 but fell in the title game to penalty kicks. The Terriers captured the prize as the No. 4 seed in 1996 but only needed two victories to accomplish the feat.
Ranked as high as 14th in the nation, the 2009-10 BU squad went through the non-conference schedule with a 6-2-2 record, knocking off then-No. 1 St. John's and No. 12 UConn while also dropping contests to Boston College and Harvard. The Terriers started conference action with a 3-0 win against Stony Brook but then suffered a four-game skid while being outscored, 9-4. Facing the possibility of not making the conference tournament, BU responded with road wins at Vermont and Albany to enter Saturday's contest on a two-game win streak.
Leading the way for the offense is recently-named First Team All-America East honoree Aaron O'Neal, who currently ranks 14th in the nation for goals per game at 0.65. He tallied his 11th score of the year at Albany after earlier in the season recording three multi-goal game performances. Setting him and the other eight scorers on the team up for the score is sophomore and fellow First Team All-Conference member Michael Bustamante. Ranked eighth in assists per game at 0.59, he has 19 career assists and is currently on pace to break Andy Dorman's ('03) record of 37.
On the defensive end, the Terriers are led by Second Team All-Conference back Colin Henry and senior keeper Hrafn Davidsson. They helped BU shut out six opponents this year, including the Big East's Huskies and Red Storm, during the first 11 games of the season. In that stretch, the Terriers allowed a total of seven goals, but then gave up 12 goals in the last six contests. Davidsson enters the AE tournament with a 1.04 goals against average and .742 save percentage.
Like BU, Hartford suffered a four-game losing streak before snapping it in the conference opener with a 1-0 win at Albany. Also earning conference victories against UMBC and Binghamton, the Hawks fell at New Hampshire and Stony Brook while tying Vermont. In total, Hartford has outscored league opponents, 12-9. Carlos Villa leads the offense with 17 points off eights goals and one assist, while James Stamopoulos has the edge in assists with four. Nenad Cudic has started 15 games and holds a 1.06 GAA and .750 save percentage. The defense has shut out four opponents.
The Terriers lead the all-time series, 18-8-2, after seeing their five-game unbeaten streak against the Hawks snap on Oct. 10. O'Neal tied the game in front of 1,100 Hartford fans at one goal apiece in the 72nd minute off an assist from freshman Nick Prunier, but Hartford took advantage of a BU red card two minutes later by scoring goals in the 77th and 89th minutes, respectively, to pull away with the 3-1 victory. Davidsson had three saves in the contest, while Cudic had four.
The winner of the game will travel to No. 2 seed Stony Brook on Wednesday (Nov. 11) for a 7 p.m. semifinal match-up.
