Rhett Shares His Passion for BU Soccer
October 19, 2010 | General
Oct. 19, 2010
There are plenty of exciting events coming up this weekend, including Head of the Charles and the three ice hockey games. For now though, I thought it important to point out the success that both the men's and women's soccer teams are having so far this season. Each team has only two home games remaining before postseason starts, so don't miss out on the opportunity to watch these talented Terriers on the pitch.
First, congrats to women's head coach Nancy Feldman for earning her 200th victory last week. Check out this video of her talking to the players, and you'll see how much this meant to the team to reach this milestone.
The latest RPI rankings came out today, and they are standing at 62nd out of 322 schools. UNH is next from the America East at 205, which just shows how impressive the Terriers have been this year with a difficult non-conference schedule that included wins over a ranked William & Mary squad and the Pac-10's Washington.
Starting with back-to-back 3-0 wins against Harvard and UConn, they've earned a total of nine consecutive shutouts and outscored opponents 28-0 during that timespan. So basically, BU has already played a little under 14 hours of soccer without allowing a goal. Wow!
Graduate student Lisa Kevorkian has 12 goals on the year and was nominated today for the America East's Fans' Choice Player of the Year. I'm calling on all members of Terrier Nation to take the two seconds needed to vote for her. Her sweet bicycle kick for a goal alone makes me want to vote for her. I strongly recommend taking the time to go watch her and junior Jessica Luscinski (9 goals) along with the rest of the squad on both Thursday and Sunday.
Now, while the women have been setting new benchmarks for future defenses, the men have quietly been taking care of business as well. I have to admit while watching the team during that three-game losing streak in September, I was getting a little worried, not knowing which direction the team would go.
There was clearly no reason to be, as head coach Neil Roberts has the team setting its sights on a 10th regular season title with a perfect 4-0 league record and a six-game winning streak. He's in his 26th season and just earned his 25th winning season. BU also currently has an RPI of 34 out of 204 programs. Talk about consistency!
The junior class with Ben Berube, Michael Bustamante, Colin Henry and Stephen Knox is proving to be something special. That said, senior captain Aaron O'Neal has six goals this year and Ben Havey has added 12 points, including three against UMBC on the Fox Soccer Channel. With freshmen like Kelvin Madzongwe (current AE Rookie of the Week) and other seniors such as the twin brothers Matthew Shea and Ryan Shea making valuable contributions, the Terriers are poised to make noise in the postseason. First, they must play a tough UNH on Saturday and then return to Nickerson on Oct. 27 against Binghamton.
Before finishing this blog, I wanted to pass along an article from the Houston Chronicle. Very few people knew this at the time, but Samuel Appiah, a team captain on last year's squad, lost his mother while at the Houston Dynamo's training camp in February. She passed away in Ghana, but fortunately for Sammy, a teammate also from Ghana proved to be a great friend during this trying time.
Sammy has only made a handful of appearances this season, but he'll never forget scoring a goal during his MLS debut. In May, he received the John B. Simpson Award for demonstrating enthusiasm and leadership.
Until next time...
