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News Release

UMBC To Host the 11th Annual adidas Kick Off Men’s Soccer Classic

9/6/2007

UMBC will host the 11^th annual adidas Kick Off Men’s Soccer Classic on Friday and Sunday, Sept. 7 and 9. The Retrievers entertain St. Francis (N.Y.) at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, after Navy opens the competition with a 2:00 p.m. contest vs. Iona. The Midshipmen take on the Terriers at noon on Sunday, while UMBC ends the weekend of play by facing the Gaels at 2:30 p.m.

The Retrievers have a record of 13-4-3 in ten previous tournaments and won titles in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005.

UMBC (2-0) is off to its best start since 2001, as they swept a pair of games and captured the Anders Soccer Classic at Navy last weekend.    Freshmen B.J. Quigley (Baltimore, Md./Archbishop Curley) and Levi Houapeu (Germantown, Md./Watkins Mill) scored 26 seconds apart in the 2-1 win over Air Force and goalkeeper Steve King (Baltimore, Md./Archbishop Curley) recorded the Retrievers’ first shutout in 21 games with a 2-0 victory over Temple. Defender Philippe Bissohong (Silver Spring, Md./Springbrook) and newcomer Ime Umoh (Baltimore, Md./Calvert Hall/Methodist) also scored their first career goals in the win over the Owls. Kevin Gnatiko (Montgomery Village, Md./Watkins Mill), who had assists in both games, was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player and Houapeu, Bissohong and Bryan Moffa (Baltimore, Md./Eastern Tech) earned all-tournament team honors.

St. Francis (N.Y.) (1-1) dropped its first game of the season, a 2-1 setback at Lafayette, but came away with a 3-2 overtime win over La Salle in the Puma Soccer Classic at Lafayette. Freshman forward John Sallhag scored all three goals vs. the Explorers, including the game-winner on a penalty kick just 1:08 into overtime.

The Retrievers and Terriers are former league rivals as UMBC spent five seasons (1998-2002) in the Northeast Conference. UMBC owns a 5-1-1 all-time record vs. St. Francis and are riding a five-game winning streak. UMBC is ranked No. 10 in the Northeast region, while St. Francis (N.Y.) is eighth (tied with Iona) in the North Atlantic.

Navy (ranked eighth in Middle Atlantic region)   enters this weekend’s play at 1-0-1, after playing Temple to a 0-0 overtime draw and defeating Air Force, 1-0.

Defenseman Will Riordon  and goalkeeper Evan Barnes  earned the Patriot League's first installment of the men's soccer Defensive Player of the Week and Goalkeeper of the Week accolades, respectively, for their roles in last weekend's shutouts at the Anders Navy Soccer Classic. Senior forward Travis King scored the game-winning goal vs. the Falcons.

Iona (1-1, ranked eighth in the North Atlantic) opened with a 2-1 win over NJIT, but fell, 3-1 at Sacred Heart on Monday.

Paul Racines and Bryan Oelkers each scored their first goal of the year for the Gaels in the win over the Highlanders. Despite a second half goal by sophomore Fabian Contreras, the Gaels were unable to surpass the Pioneers as the the hosts built a 2-0 lead and tacked on an insurance goal.

UMBC is 1-0-1 vs. Iona, and the last meeting was a 3-1 Retriever win in the 2001 season opener.