Ah, so there is some truth to the old adage, “age before beauty.”

I’m not talking about it in the, cynical comment you make after you hold the door for somebody. I’m using it in the sense that sometimes a person or a team needs to age a little bit before you get to see the diamond in the rough.

For the University of Massachusetts men’s soccer team this season has looked a bit rusty so far. After losing its first three games of the season, only producing two goals overall, it would seem that there are some questions that desperately need to be answered before the Atlantic 10 season begins against St. Joseph’s on October 1st.

Perhaps the question should be: How fast can this young team congeal?

UMass has put together one of its finest recruiting classes in recent memory and bolstering it is a slew of talent that has only been in the spotlight for one season.

Players like junior captains Craig Canavan and Oral Bullen got their first taste of real action at UMass last year. It wasn’t their job to carry the team and there was still lingering talent from that 2001 NCAA tournament team that was one of the best soccer teams to ever play at this university.

So now it’s time to put up, and what better way to shake the spider webs than to go against some of the best teams in the nation?

Losing to Santa Clara and San Francisco hurts for sure, but no one was blown away when they got the news. The Minutemen got a reality check early, the older guys saw what was out there and the new guys got to see that this isn’t high school anymore.

Many people may start to write off UMass early, it only has three seniors, it got ousted early last year, and before the season even started the Minutemen were ranked in the bottom echelon of the A-10. They may ignore the 0-0 tie against then No. 9 Notre Dame as a fluke and write off 2004 as just a run in the mill “rebuilding year.”

Maybe that’s just what the doctor ordered.

By the time everything clicks, early season woes mean nothing. This isn’t college football; one or two losses don’t just end your season. There is continuity that needs to be formed, and with a team as young and talented as the Minutemen, this continuity will be the key to the post-season.

Including today’s game, UMass has four straight in the friendly confines of Rudd Field. After that, the real season begins and the Minutemen will dive right into the mix of the A-10 season.

The Minutemen will be looking towards players like Bullen to spark an offense that has been about as stagnant as the water in the campus pond. Bullen hasn’t exactly been a high-octane offensive machine, but how can he?

Last year he had Ptah Myers alongside and the offensive burden wasn’t so heavy. Those looking towards Bullen to pick up where the likes of Myers left off are to be surely disappointed. They shouldn’t, and you know why?

That’s not how Bullen plays the game.

Bullen needs a sidekick, someone to play with him, not to him and like anything else that connection takes time. With players like freshmen Tyler Pagano, Matty Lemire (who have the only two goals on the season), and sophomore sensation Richard Higa, it’s only a matter of time before the UMass offense heats up.

So maybe this home stand is exactly what they need. Maybe Maine was just first home-game jitters and no one was on the same page. Either way these next four games are what will dictate the success of this team.

It’s a matter of figuring out each other’s game and becoming fluid as a unit. That’s what a team looks like and if the Minutemen figure that out, this will surely be a “rebuilding” season to remember.

– Bob McGovern is a Collegian columnist.