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News Release
Road-Weary Men's Soccer Returns Home to Face Howard on Wednesday
9/19/2006
Recap: Senior forward David Feazell scored with 7:32 remaining as UMBC snapped a six-game winless streak with a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over host UNLV (0-5-2) in the Rebel Classic. Trailing 1-0 at intermission, junior defender Bryan Moffa picked a perfect time to score his first career goal. His free kick found its way through traffic and beat Rebel netminder Calvin Bailey inside the right post in the 63rd minute. Moffa triggered the game-winning goal as well, as his free kick was flicked in on a header by Feazell. It was Feazell’s third score of the season and his first since the opening game.
UMBC dropped Friday’s game vs. eventual tournament champion UC-Irvine (5-1-1), falling 1-0 to the Anteaters.
Weekend in Vegas: The men's soccer program's made its third trip to Las Vegas since 1994 and the Retrievers are now 5-1 in the desert in the past and 3-0 vs. the host UNLV Rebels. In 1994, UMBC knocked off UNLV (3-2) and UC-Irvine (4-2) in the Rebel Invitational. The team returned in 1999 and upended UNLV (1-0) and San Diego State (2-0) en route to a 19-1-2 season and a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The Top Dog: UMBC Head Men's Soccer Coach Pete Caringi coached his 500th collegiate game vs. Drexel on September 8 in the first game of the Drexel Invitational. Caringi is 338-127-36 (.711) in his 26th season as a collegiate head coach and 168-100-28 (.615) at the beginning of his 16th season at UMBC. Coach Caringi's first ten seasons were spent at CCBC-Essex (Md.).
The Baltimore native is a two-time national coach of the year (1984, 1989), a three-time NCAA Division I conference coach of the year (1999, 2002, 2005) and has won championships as a player (1975 NCAA Division II title at the University of Baltimore) and as a coach (1990 APSL champion Maryland Bays). Caringi's 1999 UMBC team posted the best record in the nation (19-1-2) and earned the school's first trip to the NCAA Division-I Men's Soccer Tournament. He is a member of the National Junior College Hall of Fame, the Maryland Soccer Hall of Fame and the University of Baltimore Athletic Hall of Fame.
Program Success: UMBC has posted winning records in eight straight years and only have one losing record in 16 years under Coach Caringi.
That's Odd: Under Coach Caringi, in odd-numbered years, UMBC has a record of 92-46-17 (.648), while in even-numbered years, the Retrievers are 75-50-10 (.593).
Yutes: 19 players on UMBC's 23-man roster have one year or less experience at the Division I level.
Getting Offensive: Junior defender Bryan Moffa has held the young Retrievers together through a tough first month of the season. He shifted from wing fullback to central defense in the wake of an injury to sweeper L.J. Pijnenburg. With UMBC in the throes of a six-game winless streak, he scored his first career goal in the 63rd minute on a free kick vs. UNLV Then his long free kick with flicked in by David Feazell for the game-winner with less than eight minutes to play to give UMBC the 2-1 win. Moffa leads the team and the America East Conference (tied) with three assists.
Other League Leaders: Seniors David Feazell and Kevin Mezzadra are tied for second in the America East with 1.12 points per game and tied for second with 0.50 goals per game. Feazell is the lone player in the league to own a pair of game-winning goals. Mezzadra leads the conference in shots per game (2.88), while Steve King ranks sixth witha 1.58 goals against average.
Is Steve King No Longer a Mystery?: Sophomore netminder Steve King has now played 1,894 consecutive minutes for the Retrievers. He posted shutouts in eight of his first ten starts, but has not earned a shutout in his last 10 appearances, allowing 20 goals.
Other Notes: UMBC had to replace a pair of four-year starters at central defense and those replacements, sophomores L.J. Pijnenburg (Lake Forest, New Zealand/Hamilton) and Jovan Petrovic (Belgrade, Serbia/Mayville (N.D.) State) are now both out indefinitely with injuries… Petrovic is questionable for play this weekend, while Pijnenburg is slated to return in a few weeks…dating back to last season, UMBC has allowed goals gone in ten straight games… they had not gone more than six games without a shutout since the 1997 season, when they allowed goals in 12 consecutive games
A Glance at the Bison: Howard is 1-5-1 and is coming off a 3-1 home loss to St. Francis (Pa.). Shakir Davy gave the BIson a 1-0 first half lead, but the Red Flash scored three times in the second half to secure the win. Howard’s lone win occured in the Drexel Invitational, when they opened with a 2-1 win over La Salle. Freshman Joel Senior scored his first career goal to break a 1-1 tie, but the Bison fell, 1-0 to Drexel in the tournament finale.
Series Record: UMBC leads the series, 8-2-2, but the last two matches (2004, 2005) have resulted in 0-0 overtime ties. In fact, the last four meetings have gone extra time, as Howard snapped an eight-game losing streak to UMBC with a 2-1 overtime win in Washington, D.C. in 2002 and UMBC won, 2-1, in Baltimore one year earlier.
Up Next: UMBC opens America East Conference play vs. Boston University on Saturday. The Terriers got off to a 4-0-1 start and reached #23 in the national rankings. The Retrievers hold a 2-1 series advantage over the Terriers and have posted shutouts in the last two meetings.