UMBC

UMBC Head Men’s Soccer Coach Pete Caringi has announced the Retrievers’ 2008 schedule. The non-conference highlights include a pair of tournaments to open the campaign, contests against three local rivals and an October clash at 2007 NCAA semifinalist Virginia Tech.

The Retrievers play eight of their last nine games against conference competition and the America East Conference was rated No. 7 in the nation in 2007.

UMBC will compete at the Navy Classic for the fourth consecutive year and opens the campaign vs. West Coast Conference foe Saint Mary’s on Fri., August 29th in Annapolis. They will then face a rematch vs. St. Francis (N.Y.) as the two teams played to a 0-0 overtime draw at last season’s adidas Kick Off Classic at UMBC.

The 2008 adidas Kick Off Classic takes place the following weekend, Sept. 5th and 7th, as UMBC will battle Lipscomb and Adelphi each for the first time.

UMBC will meet Towson for the first time since the 2003 on Sept. 17th and the Retrievers then have a three game homestand vs. La Salle (Sept. 20th), Mount St. Mary’s (Sept. 23rd) and Loyola (Sept. 27th).

The Retrievers open America East competition at Maine on Sat., October 4th and play their final non-conference game under the lights in Blacksburg, Va. on Oct. 14th. UMBC’s final two home games of the nine-game home slate take place against Binghamton (Wed., Oct. 22nd) and Boston University (Sat., Oct. 25th) .

The six-team 2008 America East Championships kick off on Nov. 8th at the site of the higher seeds and conclude with the title match on November 15th or 16^th.

“It is a very challenging non-conference schedule with a final four team and some outstanding local rivalry games,” Caringi said. “That should prepare us well as I think a very tough America East Conference will be even better this year as many of the top players on the top teams return.”

Caringi expects 23 of 27 letterwinners from a year to return as the team begins training in August. The Retrievers were 8-7-5 in 2007 and reached the conference semifinals.