UMBC

Dawg Bytes

Sophomore forward Andrew Gillis scored a pair of second half goals as UMBC snapped a five-game winless streak with a 3-0 victory over Mount St. Mary’s. The Retrievers improved to 4-3-2, while the Mount dropped to 2-5-1.

After a scoreless first half, Gillis broke a long Retriever scoring drought in the 49^th minute of play. Sophomore Matt Ward made an overlapping run from the back and took a return pass from freshman B.J. Quigley on the right side of the net. Ward sent a square pass across the goal, where Gillis deposited it into the near left portion of the net. Gillis’goal broke a span of 341 minutes where the Retrievers had failed to score. But less than five minutes after his goal, UMBC struck again as Ward sent a diagonal pass through the Mountaineer defense and Quigley broke in alone and beat netminder Chris Davis in the 54^th minute.

Gillis capped the scoring in the 64^th minute as he blasted the ball into the right side of the net from 15 yards out.

UMBC outshot Mt. St. Mary’s, 11-9 in the game and won their ninth straight game in the series vs. the Mountaineers. UMBC is now 19-11-2 all-time vs. the Mount.

The two-goal game is the second of Gillis’ career, as he scored twice in the 2006 season finale vs. Hartford. That was also the most recent two-goal effort by a Retriever player. Former Retriever Kevin Mezzadra had four multi-goal games in 2006; Gillis and David Feazell had one each.

Ward picked up his first two career assists in the game, despite starting the game in the Retriever backfield. He is the first Retriever to record multiple assists in one game since Matt Watson had two assists vs. Mt. St. Mary’s in a 3-2 win on Sept. 21, 2005.

Quigley posted the first multiple-point (one goal, one assist) game in his brief tenure.

The three goals scored by UMBC is the most this season and the most since that 5-2 win over Hartford.

Junior netminder Steve King made just a pair of saves and recorded his fifth shutout of the season and the 13^th of his career. His 13 shutouts are tied for third on UMBC’s all-time list (Robbie Mamula, ’92 and Andy Marchica, ’05). He now has 142 career saves and needs just five to move past Tom Meyer (143, ’70) and Marchica (146) into eighth place on UMBC’s all-time list.

The Retrievers are second in the America East conference in defense, allowing just 0.74 goals per game.

Series Notes

Stony Brook holds a 3-2 lead in the overall series and has won the last three meetings. Last season, USB triumphed, 2-0 in Stony Brook, N.Y. and they won in their last appearance at UMBC, capturing a 3-2 double overtime decision on the turf at UMBC Stadium in 2005.

The Seawolves

Stony Brook (6-3-1) is 6-1-1 in its last eight outings. They are the highest-scoring team in the conference, averaging 1.78 goals per game. Senior midfielder Michael Palacio leads the conference with 13 points (four goals, five assist). Mahamadou Simpara notched the game-tying goal in the 61st minute to propel the Stony Brook men's soccer team to a 1-1 double overtime time with 18th-ranked Maryland on Tuesday in College Park, Md.  David Ditrich made five saves in goal for the Seawolves to preserve the draw.

Conference Notes

UMBC is 1-2-1 in America East Conference opening games. They dropped their league opener in 2004 and 2006 (both at Albany) and failed to make the conference tournament in both of those seasons. The Retrievers are 10-2-4 at home in America East Conference play, but just 1-2-1 in their last four home AEC games.