In its first three games, the Massachusetts men’s soccer team (1-2) showed great potential for a stellar season. However, things have not gone as planned for the Minutemen.
With a quiet confidence the extremely talented Minutemen traveled to West Hartford, Conn. on Wednesday to face off with the University of Hartford.
Just three days earlier, the boys from Amherst manhandled Atlantic Coast Conference powerhouse North Carolina State, 2-1, in the Adidas Wolf pack Classic, which is held on the NC State campus in Raleigh, NC.
The result was quite different against the Hawks of Hartford as the score was swapped and UMass lost 2-1 in a tightly played match.
Not only was the loss hard to swallow but to add insult to injury, in the 76th minute of the match senior co-captain and possibly the best sweeper in the Atlantic 10, J.R. Pouncey, went down with what appeared to be a goin pull.
But according to head coach Sam Koch, Pouncey’s status for the next couple of games is “looking good.”
The Minutemen get a chance to redeem their loss and bring their record back up to .500 when they play in their home opener at Totman Field on Sunday against intra-state rival Boston University.
The match is very important for the Minutemen. For starters, the UMass student body will get its first look at the squad and in order to fill the bleachers for every home game, the Minutemen will have to show a solid performance.
Secondly, next weekend is the UMass Classic. The Maroon and White would want nothing more than to go into its own tournament coming off a victory.
The biggest problem that the Minutemen have had in their first three games is that they have been out-shot in all three contests. Behind the stellar play of goalkeeper Bryan O’Quinn, the defense has held up the ship. The senior co-captain has given up only six goals on 48 shots.
The offense will need to be more aggressive and coach Koch put it best when he said, “they just need to shoot more.
“It is an easy correction and it will be made on Sunday.”
At the time of the interview Koch was practically out the door on his way to Storrs, Conn. to watch BU face off with UMass-rival UConn. Chances are high that he will be seeing good things.
The Terriers have had a great start to the season.
Over the Labor Day weekend, BU participated in the Lehigh Nike Soccer Classic in Bethlehem, Pa. and exited the Liberty state with two impressive victories.
In the opener they blanked Army in a tight match, 1-0. The Terriers followed up the tough victory with an impressive performance against the home team, Lehigh. A complete BU domination over the Mountain Hawks led to a 4-1 victory for the Terriers.
Coach Koch wants to see a complete match from his players where everyone plays well on both sides of the field. If all goes as planned, the Maroon and White can turn around the inauspicious start to the season and allow the UMass students to enjoy the home opener.