Printer Friendly
Email This Page
News Release
Men's Soccer To Complete Regular Season at Binghamton; Home Game in America East Tournament at Stake
10/30/2009
The UMBC men’s soccer team plays (12-4-0, 3-3-0 America East) plays its final regular season game of the 2009 campaign on Saturday, Oct. 31, when they travel to Binghamton (8-7-1, 3-3-0) for a 7:00 p.m. kick-off in Vestal, N.Y. Live stats for the game are available at http://www.bubearcats.com/sports/msoc/live/xlive.htm and a live video broadcast is available at http://bubearcats.tv.
With a win, UMBC would host a quarterfinal game in the America East Tournament which takes place on Saturday, Nov. 7.
The Retrievers are coming off a 3-0 setback at
Junior forward Levi Houapeu (Germantown, Md./Watkins Mill) produced his second three-goal game of the season as host UMBC (12-3-0, 3-2-0 America East) clinched a spot in the America East playoffs with a 5-1 win over Albany at UMBC Soccer Stadium on Saturday… The Retrievers can finish no worse than fifth in the league.
For the second time this season, Houapeu was named America East Conference Men’s Soccer Player of the Week, for games ending Oct. 24, 2009. He was also the ECAC Co-Offensive Player of the Week.
UMBC has now reached the America East post-season in 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2009.
Houapeu became the first Retriever to post multiple hat tricks in a season since Derek McElligott had a pair in 2001… His seven-point game (3 goals, 1 assist) is the most for a Retriever since McElligott tallied seven vs.
Junior midfielder Dustin Dzwonkowski (
Sophomore forward Andrew Bulls (
Dzwonkowski, who had two career goals entering the week, had tremendous back-to-back games, drawing an assist and scoring the game-winning goal at
Head Coach Pete Caringi is two wins shy of 200 (198-125-37) in his 19 seasons at UMBC.
Bulls now has 40 points on the season (15 goals, 10 assists), while Houapeu, who entering the week third in the nation in scoring, has 39 points (14 goals, 11 assists)… Houapeu’s 11 assists tie him with John Samarztis (1990) for the fourth-most in a single season at UMBC and are the most since Ty Engram recorded 13 helpers in 1999.
UMBC’s 12 wins is the most since a 15-5-0 mark in 2000 and tied for the fifth-most in 24 years of Division I competition.
Bulls continues to lead the nation in goals and points per game, according to the latest NCAA Men’s Soccer statistics released on Oct. 26, 2009. Houapeu is second in points per game and tied for first in assists per contest. Bulls has registered 15 goals (1.0 per game) and 10 assists and leads the nation with 2.67 points per game. His goal total is the most for a Retriever since Derek McElligott scored 15 in 2003 and is the sixth-most in a single season in school history. UMBC is second in the country in scoring, averaging 2.6 goals per outing.
Bulls scored the game’s first goal vs. Stony Brook, producing a point in his 11th consecutive game. That tied the mark set by Retriever all-time great, Giuliano Celenza, who scored in 11 consecutive contests in 2000.
Houapeu’s multiple-point effort vs.
Freshman netminder Phil Saunders recorded his sixth shutout of the season in the win over Stony Brook. Saunders had posted four straight shutouts in wins over CAA foes
The Retrievers’ 9-0-0 start was the best in school history and the longest winning streak since 1999, when the NCAA-bound team won 13 straight contests. The 1977 team (15-2-0) started its NCAA Division II tournament-bound season at 7-0-0, while the 1999 Retriever Division I squad opened with six straight wins en route to the nation’s best record that campaign at 19-1-2.
Rankings
The Retrievers were ranked 18th overall nationally by the NSCAA and also debuted at No. 25 in Soccer America and at No. 21 in Soccer Times on Sept. 28.
Game Reviews and Notes
Bulls scored a pair of first half goals, leading the visiting Retrievers to a 3-0 victory over
Bulls scored on a free kick in the 44th minute and Saunders made three outstanding saves in the final two minutes as UMBC edged Loyola , 1-0, before 1,505 fans at UMBC Stadium on Sept. 22. Saunders finished with six saves. It was UMBC’s first-ever win over Loyola on home turf. The Greyhounds lead the series, 18-2-2, with the Retrievers’ lone previous win occurring at
Houapeu recorded the Retrievers’ first three-goal game in three years, leading the Retrievers to a 3-0 win over Drexel on Sept. 19. The team’s seven wins to start a season broke the school Division I record of the 1999 team, which played Fairleigh Dickinson to a 1-1 draw in the seventh game of the season were 6-0-1 after seven games. Houapeu recorded UMBC’s first three-goal game since Kevin Mezzadra scored three times in a home win over Howard on Sept. 20, 2006. The win was UMBC’s first-ever over Drexel, which leads the all-time series, 4-1-1. Bulls did not score a goal for the first time this season, but his assist on Houapeu’s final goal kept his scoring streak alive. Bulls scored goals in UMBC’s first six games and his eight goals in six games was the fastest to get to that plateau in UMBC’s Division I history. Ty Engram scored 11 goals through the first eight games of the 1999 campaign.
For the second consecutive year, UMBC won both games in its adidas Kick-Off Classic, but placed second to Navy. The Mids also defeated Mount St. Mary’s and St. Francis and allowed only one goal, compared to two allowed by the Retrievers.
UMBC has outscored its opponents, 38-17, through 16 games this season… the Retrievers are 8-2-0 at home this season and 17-6-5 vs. America East opponents at home in six-plus seasons of league play…All four of UMBC’s losses this season have occurred against teams which had a .500 or losing record at the time of the contest.
Series Notes
UMBC snapped a four-game losing streak to
The Bearcats