April 10, 2009

BOSTON - The Boston University men's soccer team started the spring season with meetings against nationally-ranked in-state ACC rival Boston College and NCAA Division II Final Four participant UMass-Lowell. The defending America East champion Terriers, coming off a second-round appearance in the NCAAs, showed little rust in the exhibitions at Nickerson Field.

In the first game, the Terriers played a starting lineup minus center forwards Shaun Taylor and U-20 Trinidad & Tobago's Stephen Knox. This did not prevent central midfielder Tom Stackhouse from hitting the target within the first 10 minutes.

With combination play involving three midfielders, rising sophomore midfielder Ben Berube found Stackhouse on the edge of the box. Stackhouse fired a right footed shot into the roof of the net.

BC pegged back the Terriers with a penalty kick just before the halftime whistle. With 20-minutes remaining in the fixture, red-shirt midfielder Ryan Shea scored the winning goal, capitalizing on a poor clearance. Shea beat two players on the dribble and slotted the ball by the on-coming goalkeeper.

The second game of the evening had the Terriers playing against Final Four participant UMass-Lowell. With a different line up, the Terriers jumped out to an early one goal lead. Red-shirt freshman Peter Mehlert latched onto a cross from Daniel Chu, after Nicolas Ampuero had hit the post on the initial service.

The Terriers start the spring 2-0 in the win column and next face Harvard.