Men's Soccer Opens Season at No. 13 St. John's Friday Night

Neil Roberts has 307 of Boston University's 499 career victories.

Neil Roberts has 307 of Boston University's 499 career victories.

Aug. 23, 2012

Watch Gametracker 2012 Season Outlook

BOSTON - Opening its 64th season with a six-game road trip, the Boston University men's soccer team will visit No. 13 St. John's on Friday night with action slated to begin at 8 p.m. Led by seven-time America East Coach of the Year Neil Roberts, the Terriers enter the contest seeking the program's 500th career victory.

In his 28th season at the helm, Roberts currently ranks 11th amongst active Division I coaches with 307 victories. Selected to finish second in the America East, the defending conference regular-season champion Terriers and the defending Big East tournament champion Red Storm are meeting for the sixth time in the last five years.

Picked to win the Big East's Red Division, St. John's returns six starters from last year's squad that went 14-7-2 and fell in the second round of the NCAA tournament. The Red Storm is an impressive 25-3-5 (.833) all-time in home openers, including a 17-1-3 (.881) record with Dave Masur as head coach.

St. John's is led by preseason All-Big East honorees Jack Bennett and Tim Parker. A senior, Bennett was named the 2011 Big East tournament's most outstanding offensive player. He tallied six goals and also posted six assists for a team-high 18 points. One of his team-high game winners came against the Terriers in a 1-0 victory at Nickerson Field last year.

A sophomore, Parker started 22 games last season in the backline to earn All-Rookie accolades. He ranked fourth on the team in minutes and tallied a goal along with an assist, as the defense recorded 11 shutouts.

The Red Storm own a 5-3 record against the Terriers with all five contests since 2008 being decided by one goal. St. John's earned two 1-0 victories at home in 2008 and followed up with a 2-1 home win in 2010. BU claimed its last victory at Nickerson Field in 2009 against the nation's top-ranked team at the time.

The Terriers are a youthful team, as only one player competed in that 2009 contest against SJU. Redshirting last season due to injury, senior Michael Bustamante is a three-time All-America East First Team honoree and currently ranks 11th all-time at BU with 23 assists. He will look to help set up an offense led by sophomore Dominique Badji, who led BU last season in points (13), goals (5) and assists (3).


 

 

On the defensive end, reigning AE Defender of the Year Kelvin Madzongwe and All-Rookie Team goalkeeper Nick Thomson will try to improve upon last year's performance in which the team finished the season ranked 53rd nationally in goals against average at 0.99. BU recorded six shutouts, including a 1-0 win against then-No. 22 Providence.

Following the trip to St. John's, BU will visit No. 14 Boston College on Monday, Aug. 27 at 5 p.m.