April 30, 2008

BOSTON - A tournament title at the John McCullough tournament highlighted the 2008 Boston University men's soccer spring season. BU went 4-1-2 in the off-season, seeing development from the freshmen and getting strong play from the upperclassmen, particularly junior Jin Oh (Dededo, Guam).

"We had a very productive spring," noted head coach Neil Roberts. "We got to look at some of the players who didn't see as much time in the fall, and we tried out a few new systems. It definitely answered a lot of questions."

The spring opened on March 25 with a 1-1 draw against Northeastern. BU was leading but allowed a late penalty kick. Oh and sophomore Richy Dorman (Flintshire, Wales) each tallied a goal as the Terriers defeated Boston College, 2-1, on April 4.

BU competed in the Toyota Classic on April 12, with Oh and Dorman again providing the offense in a 2-1 win over UMass in the first game. However, Providence got the best of BU in the afternoon match, 2-1.

The next weekend, however, BU returned to Boston with a tournament title. The Terriers claimed a 2-0 win over Wheaton on the strength of two Oh goals before defeating Harvard, and winning the John McCullough tournament, on penalty kicks.

Boston University closed out its spring with a 2-0 win over Holy Cross on April 25. That game turned out to be a showcase for the freshmen as defender Ryan Shea (Hanover, Mass.) and forward Timmy Akinsanya (Sacramento, Calif.) each scored a goal for BU.

"The spring had a lot of pluses," said Roberts. "We saw the development of the freshmen and got to see players in different positions. We were cleaner technically and want to build on that. Sammy [Appiah] and Ryan [Shea] showed us some positives. Richy [Dorman] moved to the back and did well there. Unfortunately, we did lose Shaun Taylor for the spring with an injury, but he will be back for the fall."