Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

Ryan Buckingham impresses in net for UMass men’s soccer

(Nicole Evangelista/Daily Collegian)
(Nicole Evangelista/Daily Collegian)

Sophomore goalkeeper Ryan Buckingham didn’t see much game action for the Massachusetts men’s soccer team in 2013. As a freshman, he started just one game, appeared in only two and played a total of 33 minutes.

However, through six games in the 2014 season, Buckingham has taken on a much larger role for the Minutemen.

With the offseason transfer of Nick Ruiz – who started at goalkeeper in 18 of UMass’ 19 games last season – and a lingering knee injury that has kept redshirt freshman goalkeeper Taylor Culp off the field, Buckingham emerged as the regular starter this season.

“He’s been thrown into it,” interim coach Devin O’Neill said. “Given the fact that (Culp) has been struggling getting fit, there’s no question in anybody’s mind that (Buckingham) is going to get the games.”

Buckingham started five of the Minutemen’s first six games and accumulated nearly 428 minutes so far, a stark increase from last year’s workload.

“Just having game experience has helped him grow very quickly,” O’Neill said. “There’s no substitute for experience, so the fact that he’s gotten five games under his belt this season is good for him moving forward.”

That experience showed last Friday against Fairfield. Buckingham recorded five saves while allowing just one goal in a 2-1 overtime victory, giving UMass (1-5) its first win of the season in comeback fashion.

“I thought we dominated pretty much the whole game,” Buckingham said. “We moved the ball well, defensively we were doing pretty well and I felt like we were really motivated to come back, which we did.”

Friday’s victory also marked a personal milestone for Buckingham, as he notched the first win of his collegiate career.

“It felt pretty great to finally get my first win and our first win of the season,” Buckingham said. “There’s nothing to describe it. It was just amazing.”

O’Neill praised Buckingham’s performance on Friday, pointing out that four of his five saves came in the second half. Specifically, O’Neill mentioned one save late in the game, when Buckingham had to dive to his right to tip the ball off the goalpost, preserving a 1-1 tie.

“That (save) was as good as scoring a goal,” O’Neill said. “When your goalkeeper does that, it just energizes the team. I can’t overstate the importance of (his performance) for where we were in the season and where we were in the game.”

Although the Minutemen have struggled to score goals this season, Buckingham has manned the backline of a defensive unit that has continued to improve and enabled UMass to stay competitive in each game.

After sitting in favor of Culp in the Minutemen’s season opener (a 5-1 loss to Utah Valley), Buckingham has produced a .643 save percentage and a 2.10 goals against average in five starts.

Despite his solid stats, the 2014 season did not begin kindly for Buckingham. His first start against San Jose State resulted in a 4-1 defeat, and while he finished the game with seven saves, Buckingham said that it wasn’t until the following game against Cal Poly where he saw improvement.

“After the San Jose State game, people said that I played pretty well but I didn’t feel like I did,” Buckingham said. “But once we hit Cal Poly, I felt like I took the next step and improved greatly in my shot-stopping ability.”

UMass lost 2-0 to the Mustangs, but the game was the first of four straight matches –including Friday’s win over the Stags – in which Buckingham limited opponents to two goals or less.

While Buckingham credited the defensive play in front of him in limiting opponents’ scoring opportunities of late, O’Neill said that the goalkeeper’s communication and confidence has been a major difference in the Minutemen’s recent play.

“I think his command in the box has improved greatly,” O’Neill said. “He seems more comfortable in determining what balls he can come forward for and he gets those. But more importantly, he communicates with his defense when he can’t get there. … He’s starting to feel a little more established with his range and that’s important for him.”

Moving forward, Buckingham believes the win over Fairfield will serve as a confidence boost for himself and the rest of the team, as UMass tries to build its first winning streak of the season. “We feel like we can keep winning after (Friday’s) game because we played so well,” Buckingham said. “I really feel that we can make something happen in the Atlantic 10 Tournament and be ‘that’ team.”

“No one’s talking about us right now, but once the A-10’s come, they will be talking because we will make something happen.”

Anthony Chiusano can be reached at [email protected] and can be followed on Twitter @a_chiusano24.

Leave a Comment
More to Discover

Comments (0)

All Massachusetts Daily Collegian Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *