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News Release
Men's Soccer To Face Defending America East Champion Stony Brook Seawolves in New York on Wednesday
10/3/2006
Recap: For the second straight Saturday, the UMBC (3-6-3, 0-1-2 America East) held a late lead against a conference heavyweight, but the result was the same as visiting Vermont scored in the 81st minute and tied the Retrievers, 1-1 in double overtime. By virtue of a David Feazell goal in the sixth minute, the Retrievers led for 74 minutes, but could not close out the Catamounts. The Retrievers also gave up a 1-0 lead late a week earlier and settled for a 1-1 tie vs. Boston University. Sophomore netminder Steve King made a career high nine saves vs. Vermont.
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 340-129-38 (.709) in his 26th season as a collegiate head coach and 169-101-30 (.613) 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.
Getting Ahead: UMBC has scored the game’s first goal in six of 12 contests this season, but is just 2-2-2 in those games.
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 with five assists.
Other League Leaders: Entering the week, senior Kevin Mezzadra is tied for first with 0.58 goals (7 goals in 12 games) per game. Mezzadra is third in the conference in shots per game (2.42), despite playing a central defensive position vs. Vermont and for 65 minutes vs. Boston University. Netminder Steve King ranks fifth with 3.92 saves per game and eighth with a 1.50 goals against average. Mezzadra scored all three goals as UMBC returned home after six straight games away from UMBC Soccer Stadium and defeated Howard, 3-1 in the Retrievers’ final non-conference game of the season.
It was Mezzadra’s first career “hat-trick” and the first for any Retriever since Derek McElligott scored three in the 2004 opener, a 10-0 rout of NJIT. It was the first time that a Retrievers scored all three of his team’s goals in a game since Giuliano Celenza scored a trio in a 3-0 win over Central Connecticut in October of 1999. Mezzadra, who had not scored in the previous five games, now has seven goals on the season and 17 in his career at UMBC.
Is Steve King No Longer a Mystery?: Sophomore netminder Steve King has now played 2,254 consecutive minutes for the Retrievers. He posted shutouts in eight of his first ten starts, but has not earned a shutout in his last 14 appearances, allowing 26 goals.
Other Notes: Dating back to last season, UMBC has allowed goals in 14 straight games, the most-ever in the program’s 21-year Division I history … they had not gone more than six games without a shutout since the 1997 season, when they allowed goals in 12 consecutive games.
In America East Play: The Retrievers are now 15-9-5 in three seasons of America East Conference play, including a mark of 10-1-5 at home and 5-8-1 on the road. UMBC had a 12-game home unbeaten streak in conference play until falling, 3-2 in overtime to Stony Brook in the ‘05 regular season finale.
A Glance at the Seawolves: Stony Brook (3-9-0, 0-2-0 America East) dropped a pair of 1-0 decisions in conference play last week... The Seawolves fell at Vermont,1-0 and dropped a 1-0 heated affair at Albany on Saturday. In a game which the teams combined for seven cards, the Great Danes early penalty kick proved to be the difference. Junior Rich Skoblicki finished with four saves in his second start this season. Adam Ciklic leads Stony Brook with four goals on the campaign.
Series Record: The series is knotted at 2-2, with Stony Brook winning the past two decisions, 3-2 in the regular season finale last year and 3-0 in New York in 2004. Last year’s win gave the Seawolves the America East regular season title over UMBC, which had lead the league from the opening game.