Sept. 27, 2004
Complete Release | Updated Statistics
UMass Travels To BU Kicking Off Five-Game Road Trip
UMass kicks off a five-game road stand with Tuesday night's match against the Boston Terriers. The Minutemen will travel to Philadelphia to take on Saint Joseph's and Temple this weekend before flying south to take on the Richmond Spiders and the George Washington Colonials.
The Minutemen wrapped up a five-game homestand last Wednesday with a 3-2 overtime win against New Hampshire. UMass has won three of its last four games - two of which were overtime victories
UMass will kick off Atlantic 10 play this Friday against the Saint Joseph's Hawks.
Inside The Series
Tuesday's game against Boston marks the 34th time these programs have met with UMass leading the series 18-11-4.
UMass won last season's match 5-1, however, Boston maintains an 8-5-3 record against the Minutemen at Nickerson Field.
For UMass, 13 players saw action in last season's match, while nine returners for Boston played. Oral Bullen and Ralph Pace each collected assists in the win, while Nick Billman posted three saves in the net. Former UMass standout Ptah Myers scored two goals to lead the Minuteman offense.
The first meeting between the two clubs occured in 1951 with UMass winning 4-0 in Boston.
Closing In On No. 150
Head coach Sam Koch is just one wins shy of 150 for his UMass career. In his 15th season, he has the most wins of any men's soccer coach in program history. Among active collegiate coaches, Koch ranks among the top-50 with 207 victories in his 20 seasons on the sideline.
Charest Is Golden
In the Minutemen's 3-2 overtime victory against New Hampshire last Wednesday, sophomore Rob Charest scored his second golden goal of the year. The goal, scored in the 99th minute of play, secured the third win of the season for UMass and was Charest's second goal of the game. In the 71st minute, Charest hit the equalizer to knot the score at 2-2 giving UMass the chance for the overtime victory. Against Hartford (9/14) Charest also scored twice including the game-winner in the 104th minute of play. He is now tied with junior Oral Bullen for the team lead in goals (4), assists (2), and points (10).
Bullen Finds His Touch
After being held scoreless for the first three games of the season, junior Oral Bullen picked up three goals and an assist in the two UMass wins from last week. Against Hartford (9/14), he scored the second goal of the game, while against Siena (9/17) he tallied two goals to tie his career-high for a game.
The Brooklyn native had only scored two goals in a game twice in his career prior to the Siena game (Birmingham Southern, 9/5/03; St. Bonaventure, 10/26/03). The Minutemen are 3-0 when Bullen scores multiple goals in a game.
Bullen now has 13 goals, six assists, and 32 points for his career - the most of any current UMass player.
Burns Gets Offensive
Senior goalkeeper Colin Burns acheived a first for his collegiate soccer career when he placed his named in the offensive portion of the box score against Siena (9/14). Burns boomed a free kick nearly 65-yards allowing freshman Matty Lemire to set-up Oral Bullen's third goal of the season. Burns tallied the first assist of his career on the play.
Recapping The New Hampshire Win
Sophomore Rob Charest (Monson, Mass.) scored twice leading UMass to a 3-2 overtime win over New Hampshire last Wednesday (9/22) at Rudd Field. Charest's goal in overtime marked the second time this season he has registered a golden goal for the Minutemen.
The midfielder found himself in the right spot in the 99th minute when he found the back left of the net from three yards out off a touch-pass from junior Oral Bullen (Brooklyn, N.Y.) for the game-winner.
Charest registered the game-tying goal in the 71st minute on assists from Tyler Pagano (Mundelein, Ill.) and Matty Lemire (Ipswich, Mass.) after UNH had regained a one-goal lead early in the second half.
New Hampshire opened the scoring in the first half when Ross Fishbain recorded his second goal of the season in the 12th minute. Fishbain accepted Matt Low's direct kick to the box to beat UMass goalkeeper Colin Burns from five-yards out.
UMass answered in the 23rd minute when Bullen scored his fourth goal of the year with a 20-yard shot to the top-left corner of the goal.
Bryan Stewart put UNH up again in the 56th minute on a pass from Brian Levey before Charest led UMass back again.
The Minutemen out-shot the Wildcats 18-10 including a 3-0 performance in the overtime period.
Scouting The Terriers
Boston (2-4-0) is riding a two-game win streak after defeating No. 24 Rhode Island 3-2 in overtime last Wednesday and No. 20 Binghamton 2-0 on Saturday (9/25).
Erik Evjen, Roland Erlichman and Steven Gahl lead Boston offensively with two goals each. Jamie Johnson is the team's points leader with four assists and one goal on the season.
For the season, Boston has allowed seven goals on 44 shots in the second half of games compared to just three goals on 31 shots in the first half.
Chad Comroe has started four games this season in goal producing 27 saves and giving up just 1.89 goals against.
Like UMass, the Terriers faced a strong pre-season schedule. Boston lost its first three games to Indiana (2-3 OT), Notre Dame (0-2) and Boston College (1-2).
Boston's recruiting class for the 2004 season was ranked the 25th best in the nation according to CollegeSoccerNews.com...the class includes Clemson transfer John Cooper, defenders Miles Dunn and Asher McClellan from the IMG Academy, and Shane Westbrook who was a member of the Region II ODP team.
The Rudd Field Advantage
Since its opening at the start of the 2002 season, Rudd Field has become one of the top home-field advantages in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Minutemen have posted a 15-6-2 mark (.700 winning percentage), including a 7-1-1 mark in 2003. In that span, UMass has outscored its foes 62-32 in the 23 games at home, including 21-5 in 2003. UMass posted five shutouts at Rudd Field in 2003 and have seven since the opening of the complex.
Monthly Success
Koch certainly finds the month of October to his liking. In fact, the Minutemen saw a 22-game October unbeaten streak come to an end when Xavier defeated the Minutemen on October 10. The streak spanned back to Oct. 20, 2000, when Dayton defeated UMass, 3-1. Over the last five years, the Minutemen are 35-7-3 (.811 winning percentage) in the month of October.
The Captains
Koch has named senior Colin Burns and juniors Craig Canavan and Oral Bullen as the captains this season.
Burns is a fifth-year senior that has recovered fully from a serious head injury during his freshman year. He is coming off a solid season as the UMass goalkeeper last season and will be counted on again this season.
Canavan is perhaps the most seasoned Minuteman. He spent five years in the United States Navy before joining the Minutemen last year. He is 28 years old and played for two seasons at New Hampshire before heading to the Navy.
Oral Bullen figures to be UMass' top offensive threat. He is the leading returning scorer with 20 points (8 g, 4 a).
Atlantic 10 Success
Sam Koch has had most of his success come against Atlantic 10 opponents. During his 13 years at UMass, Koch has posted a 79-39-8 record (.659 winning percentage) against Atlantic 10 opposition, and has a winning record against every team but one, Rhode Island. Against out-of-conference foes, Koch is 66-49-10 (.551 winning percentage).
A Look Back At 2003
UMass finished last season with an 11-7-1 record, its fifth straight 10-win season. It marks the longest successive 10-win streak in school history.
Three Minutemen, all seniors, were named to All-Atlantic 10 teams. Ptah Myers was a first-team selection, while Dan Colwell and Devlin Barnes were second-team honorees.
UMass recorded its best start in school history after 10 games at 7-2-1 and reached the program's highest national ranking ever, No. 13, on Oct. 6, 2003.
Young Guns
The Minutemen have one of the youngest rosters in the country. Only two seniors, Gabe Barnard and Colin Burns, dot the roster. All told, there are 17 freshmen and sophomores on the squad.
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