June 18, 2009

BOSTON - Highlighted by contests against five 2008 NCAA tournament participants and 11 squads total that finished with a RPI of 75 or better, the defending America East champion Boston University men's soccer program and 25th-year head coach Neil Roberts have announced the team's 2009 schedule. The Terriers, who will host seven games at Nickerson Field this fall, will open and conclude the season with two road games each in another challenging slate for BU.

Non-conference opponents St. John's (3), Connecticut (14), Boston College (16), Massachusetts (27) and Harvard (28) all made the tournament, while Brown (39), Holy Cross (49), Providence (56) and Rhode Island (91) each posted RPI ratings of 100 or better. Only one of BU's 10 scheduled teams finished with a losing record.

As the AE regular season and conference tournament champion, the Terriers ended last season 20th in the ratings and won a league that featured the sixth-best RPI in the country. BU will face off against four conference members this season that finished under 90, including Binghamton (53), Vermont (55), Albany (64) and Hartford (88).

"People will see that we have one of the more competitive schedules in the country as far as RPI goes," Roberts said. "Before we get into the conference schedule, we've challenged our team with strong opponents for probably the last 10 years, and this is only going to help us continue to build the program.

"Now that our conference is on the rise and finished sixth in the rankings last season, our entire schedule becomes just that much better," he added. "Fans will see high quality soccer on both sides of the field from the beginning to the end."

The Terriers kick off the season at UMass on Tuesday, Sept. 1 and follow with a return trip to UConn on Sept. 5 after earning a 0-0 draw against the NCAA round of 16 participant Huskies last year.

The men play their first contest at home on Monday, Sept. 7 against Providence and stay within the city limits on Sept. 11, visiting nearby rival Harvard. The Crimson defeated the Minutemen during the first round of the NCAAs before falling to South Florida in the second round.

BU hosts its first of two two-game homestands with 2008 College Cup participant St. John's on Sept. 13 after dropping a pair of 1-0 contests in New York last year. The second meeting took place during the second round of the NCAAs, and the contest seemed destined to go to overtime. However, the Red Storm scored a goal in the 83rd minute and would move on to knock off UC Irvine and Indiana before losing to eventual champion Maryland in the semifinals.

The Terriers next host Boston College on Sept. 18 and will seek their first win against the Eagles since a thrilling 2-1 double-overtime win in 2006 and their first at Nickerson Field since 1996. Three of the following four games will be on the road with trips to Columbia (Sept. 20), Rhode Island (Sept. 26) and Brown (Sept. 30). The Terriers and Lions have only played each other once before in 1984.

On Sept. 23 at home, BU will face off against Holy Cross for the first time since 1973. The Crusaders reached the Patriot League championship game last season, dropping a 1-0 decision to American University.

The America East schedule opens with Stony Brook on Oct. 3 and continues at home with New Hampshire on Oct. 7. BU next travels to Hartford (Oct. 10) and Binghamton (Oct. 16) before returning to Nickerson Field for a matchup with UMBC (Oct. 21) in the home regular season finale.

The season then concludes on the road with Vermont (Oct. 28) and Albany (Oct. 31). The top six teams in the AE standings will receive a berth to the conference tournament with the top two receiving a bye to the semifinals.

BU returns 10 starters from the 2008 NCAA tournament team that earned a 1-0 victory against Fairleigh Dickinson in the first round and finished 12-6-3 overall and 6-1-1 in the AE.