Crowd Supports Terriers in Home Opener

by Nathaniel Lowenthal

The Boston University Terriers men’s soccer team opened at home for the 25th time under head coach Neil Roberts tonight. After defeating the Providence College Friars 3-0, Roberts was not only very pleased with his team’s play, but the fan support the team received as well.

"I was a little nervous at the beginning," Coach Roberts said about the expectations for fan support, "but we have a really exciting team."

Roberts then continued on about how he appreciated the fan support for the game against Providence and his wishes for the next home game.

"We’ve got St. John’s coming in on Sunday and they’re going to be either one or two in the polls and a legitimate contender to be in the national championship. So hopefully everyone will come and enjoy and help us because to get a team like that at home is not easy to do," he continued. Roberts closed his remarks by saying, “We hope we will get some great support for Sunday."

Much has been made, be it in meetings among staff members in Boston University’s Athletic Department or on WTBU’s "Terrier Talk (Wednesdays from 8pm-10pm)," about the lack of fan support in sporting events on campus other than men’s ice hockey. The meetings and time spent discussing how to lure students out of their dorms and into Nickerson Field and Case Gymnasium seems to be paying off after witnessing firsthand tonight’s soccer match.

Though the official attendance was listed at only 369, the Dog Pound (or the “Puppy Pound” because of it not reaching nowhere near the magnitude of hockey yet), compromised most of those in attendance. The "Puppy Pound" was able to cheer for three Terrier goals, as well as uniting around a single enemy and boo him like he was John Muse (Boston College hockey goalie). Friars sophomore defenseman John Raley was the Pound’s top enemy tonight.

About 30 minutes into play tonight, a shoving match with possible punches took place between Raley and Terrier junior midfielder Ben Havey ('11). Although no cards were given by the referee, the "Puppy Pound" now had one goal to accomplish the rest of the evening: make sure that Raley know he was not welcome at Nickerson Field.
The rest of the time Raley touched the ball, boos would echo from the Nickerson stands. Raley is one of the Friars responsible for taking throw-in’s, so the boos echoed more often for him than it would for a number of other Friars.

Havey ('11) took to the incident light-heartedly. When I asked him about the incident, he replied, grinning, “It was just nothing…I’m not a fighter.” Havey then proceeded to whistle the song “Nothin’ but a Good Time” by Poison which had just finished playing over the speaker system, and remarked jubilantly to a teammate, “[This] was my first interview.”

I also asked the officials about the incident, but unfortunately they had to decline comment. Their silence was the one quiet part to last night’s game.