By Mike Puzzanghera, news correspondent
When Northeastern head coach Chris Gbandi went up to Canada in the summer of 2016 and watched then-16-year-old Ryan Massoud play, he knew Massoud was a prospect he wanted.
“He was the best player on the field,” Gbandi said. “We had been after him ever since.”
Luckily for Gbandi, the team’s interest in Massoud is paying dividends. Massoud, a first-year mechanical engineering major, scored four goals in the team’s opening five games, including two in the Huskies’ 3-0 defeat of Niagara to open the season, making him the team’s leading scorer.
But for Massoud, the success of the team is more important than individual accolades.
“Unfortunately, we haven’t been getting the results we want,” Massoud said. “But it’s always good for me personally, for confidence levels, to be scoring goals at striker.”
Despite a 1-4 start to the season, Massoud achieved many individual accolades, including the Colonial Athletic Association’s, or CAA, Rookie of the Week after scoring twice against Niagara.
“Obviously I couldn’t ask for a better start than that, and we got the win first game, so it was a great start to the season,” Massoud said.
Gbandi said Massoud carries himself like a professional, even though he is just 18.
“He’s such a quiet kid, he works hard, and he loves to play soccer,” Gbandi said. “Anytime you come in as a freshman, your job is to come in and work hard.”
Although Gbandi said he thinks Massoud is best on the wing, Massoud was forced into playing up top due to other players’ injuries. Despite the challenges that came with the new position, Massoud credits his early season success to this shift.
“I think it’s just the system that I’m in right now. We don’t have many players up front so I’m just getting in good positions and getting good deliveries,” Massoud said.
Statistically, Massoud is striking at a proficient rate. The freshman from Ontario, Canada scored twice on his debut in just 18 minutes after coming on as a substitute. He has only played the full 90 minutes in a game once this season, meaning as of Sept. 16, he has scored a goal in every 67.5 minutes on the field.
To put that into perspective, the highest goals-per-minute ratio in the top five European soccer leagues last year was 74.8 from Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski, who scored 29 goals across 2,169 minutes played. The season may be early, but Massoud’s scoring rate is impressive. His four goals have come from four shots on target, meaning that he is remarkably clinical in front of goal.
“I just try to get the ball in the most dangerous area that I can,” Massoud said.
He has also only hit two shots off-target so far this year. Although it’s a small sample size, this statistic shows Massoud’s tendency to be accurate in front of goal.
Despite his high scoring rate for the Huskies, Gbandi said Massoud’s playing time will be changed on a game-to-game basis, adding that he wants him rested but also wants him out there on the field.
“Ultimately, do you want a guy sitting next to you [on the bench] who’s scored the most goals [for the team]? Probably not,” Gbandi added.
Coming from the town of Amprior in Ontario, Canada, Massoud noted the change in environment after moving to Boston.
“I’m from a small town, so everyone kind of knows each other. I never really got to meet new people back home, so it’s great to see a lot of new faces here,” Massoud said.
Massoud said he adjusted to the change of pace that comes with the city and assimilated into the team well in his first year.
“The guys [on the team] were really welcoming as soon as [the new freshmen] got here,” Massoud said. “We had a great preseason. We went on a trip to Vermont for four days and got to know each other a lot.”
The Huskies started the year with a 1-4 record, which is similar to last year’s start of 1-3-1 through five games. Despite the similar record, Gbandi believes this year’s team is an improvement from last year.
“Last year we had a lot of close games, that’s the same as this year,” Gbandi said, but added that while last year the team was being outplayed in those close games, this year it seems to be different.
“We’re going into these games with legit chances to win it. We’ve had some key mistakes at important times and we just have to put it all together to get the results.”
