The mens’ soccer team has had a wild roller coaster ride over the past month since the season began. There have been several disappointing losses, but a few unexpected big wins.
The team entered the 2009 season with predictions that it would establish itself in sixth place in the league by the end of the season. These predictions came alongside the fact that eleven seniors departed from the team last season. Yet despite these crucial losses, eight letter winners and three starters from last season’s squad have returned.
Despite the youth of this year’s squad, veteran Head Coach Ed Kelly, after 22 years of coaching Boston College men’s soccer, has remained optimistic.
“We have to be cautious in the sense that we have a lot of young kids,” he said earlier in the season. “We have to keep an understanding that there will be a learning curve and a lot of teaching and development will be required. It’s a good class, but they’re young so we have to be patient.”
The youth of the team may explain the season’s major upswings and downswings and their 5-5 record. The fi rst four games left the squad with three losses and one victory, one of those losses against #7 ranked Maryland, a conference rival.
However, after this shaky start, the team kicked into high gear over the next week and a half, winning the next four games in a row. One of these victories was over non-conference member Boston University, who before Boston College’s upset was ranked #14 in the nation. The score at the end of this upset was 1-0 with sophomore midfielder Edvin Worley scoring the team’s only goal in the 57th minute of the match.
Another of those four victories came against conference member Duke. Before Duke’s loss, their squad was ranked #11 in the nation. Freshman midfielder Colin Murphy and freshman forward Kevin Mejia were the heroes of this huge victory, each scoring one of the goals in the 2-0 victory.
After these four victories, including the two major upsets, Boston College moved up to #14 in the nation. Though holding onto that ranking has proved too diffi cult of a task for the mens’ squad.
The team’s impressive winning streak ended, beginning with back-to-back losses against unranked Siena and against conference rival North Carolina State, who is ranked #24 in the nation.
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