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News Release

Men's Soccer Travels to Lehigh for Wednesday Contest with High-Flying Mountain Hawks

9/18/2007

The UMBC men’s soccer team (3-1-1) continues a tough stretch of non-conference games as the Retrievers travel to Bethlehem, Pa. to take on Lehigh (3-1) on Wednesday evening at the Ulrich Sports Complex. The opening kick-off is set for 7:00 p.m. After returning home on Saturday to entertain James Madison, the Retrievers have two more road contests with Loyola (Sept. 29) and Mount St. Mary’s (Oct. 2) before opening America East Conference play vs. Stony Brook at UMBC Soccer Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 6.

Unbeaten No More: UMBC saw its unbeaten streak end at four, as national power VCU edged the Retrievers, 2-1 in a non-conference match at UMBC Soccer Stadium…the Rams are receiving votes in both the NSCAA and College Soccer News polls… VCU’s score in the 59^th minute was the first goal allowed by UMBC in 398 minutes of action and snapped their shutout string at three… UMBC only managed only first half shot as VCU entered the game allowing an average of two shots per game in the first half… junior forward Kevin Gnatiko (Montgomery Village, Md./Watkins Mill) from right to left found sophomore linemate Ime Umoh (Baltimore, Md./Calvert Hall/Methodist) in the 87^th minute to cut the Ram lead to 2-1…  Umoh headed the ball down from eight yards away and it bounded just inside the far right post with 3:28 remaining… Umoh, who became the first Retriever to hit the two-goal mark this season, had UMBC’s best chance in the closing moments, but his blast from 22 yards away in the final minute was blocked by a Ram defender.

King of the Pitch: Junior goalkeeper Steve King  (Baltimore, Md./Archbishop Curley) continued his outstanding play with a season-high seven saves vs. the Rams… he is currently 16^th in the nation in save percentage (88.5%, three goals allowed and 23 saves) and tied for 21^st with a 0.574 goals against average.

‘Tiko’s Helpers: Junior midfielder Kevin Gnatiko (Montgomery Village, Md./Watkins Mill) picked up his third assist of the season on Saturday and is tied for 22^nd in the nation with three assists in five games. He now has ten career helpers.

Non-Conference Domination: Despite the loss to VCU, UMBC is still 9-2-6 in their last 17 non-conference home games dating back to 2002.

Soaring Mountain Hawks: After opening with a 3-2 overtime loss to Drexel, Lehigh has defeated Delaware (1-0), Rutgers (2-1, ot) and FDU (1-0) to improve to 3-1. Lehigh was 15-2-3 last year and made it all the way to the NCAA’s final 16.  Lehigh is allowing allowing 5.2 shots per game and is being led offensively by Kyle Evans who has three goals and one assist.

Series Record: UMBC has won two of the three contests between the two teams, but Lehigh won the most recent game, a 1-0 decision at UMBC in 2005. That loss snapped UMBC’s home unbeaten streak at 30 in a row.