UMBC

The UMBC men’s soccer team (8-4-2, 2-1-2 America East) can clinch a spot in the America East Conference Tournament with a win in its last regular season home game against the Vermont Catamounts (6-6-4, 1-3-1). Only Boston U. has clinched a spot at as of today’s games and all eight teams are still in contention. Kick-off time under the lights at UMBC Stadium is set for 7:00 p.m. and the game will be streamed live by www.umbcretrievers.tv with Paul Mittermeier and Andrew Primrose on the call.

UMBC, which has dropped just one decision (4-1-2) in its last seven outings is tied with Stony Brook and Binghamton for second place with eight standings points. Boston has 12 points, but is the lone team in the league to have two home games in the season’s final week.

The Retrievers are now ranked tenth in the Northeast region; Boston U. is ranked eighth.  UMBC is assured of its 15^th winning season in 20 years under Head Coach Pete Caringi. The Retriever mentor’s current record is 207-131-39 (.601).

The Retrievers are coming off a strong week, with wins over No. 23 Penn State (College Soccer News) on Oct. 20 and vs. conference foe Hartford. The 2-1 overtime win at Penn State is UMBC’s first victory over a team in the national rankings since 2000, when the Retrievers won at No. 17 (Soccer Times) Maryland, 2-0. Sophomore midfielder Milo Kapor scored the game-winning goal with 1:11 to play in the first overtime period as UMBC extended its road unbeaten streak to four. It was UMBC’s first-ever win vs. a Big Ten opponent, although it was only the second opportunity. Wisconsin paid a visit to UMBC Soccer Stadium in 2001 and came away with a 4-2 victory over the Retrievers.

Junior midfielder Andrew Bulls gave UMBC a 1-0 lead in the 22^nd minute vs. the Nittany Lions, putting in his own rebound after a long break-in on goal. The Retrievers held that advantage until the 76^th minute when the Lions got the equalizer. But UMBC dominated and overtime session and ended it when Kapor, who had entered the game minutes earlier, hit a brilliant 30-yard bender from the left wing which tucked just inside the right netting of the cage.  

Bulls had a goal and two assists on Saturday, earning America East Conference co-Player of the Week honors, as UMBC blanked Hartford, 3-0.

UMBC is now in 4-1-2 in October and the lone negative result occurred last Friday night, Oct. 15, as the visiting Boston University Terriers blanked UMBC, 2-0. A record crowd of 2,781 packed UMBC Stadium, as the game was shown live on Fox Soccer Channel during UMBC’s Homecoming weekend. UMBC’s previous record high was 1,505 fans who attended UMBC’s home match vs. Loyola in 2009.

A Glance at the Catamounts: Vermont got off to an impressive start, defeating No. 13 Stanford, 2-1, en route to a 4-1-0 start. However, the Catamounts are winless (0-4-1) in their last five contests and have gone scoreless over the last 380 minutes. They dropped a 1-0 decision at Albany on Saturday. Junior Nick O’Neill continues to lead the team in scoring with 15 points on six goals and three assists.

The Apple Does Not Fall Far: Pete Caringi III has won a pair of America East Conference Men’s Soccer Rookie of the Week awards (9/7, 9/20). He made his first official start at FDU, although he was in the starting lineup for the cancelled contest at Loyola. Though his first six games coming off the bench, Caringi had scored four goals in 207 minutes of action and was a +4 (5 UMBC goals scored, 1 allowed) when he was on the field in wins over La Salle and Mount St. Mary’s.  Entering the week, the Retriever freshman is tied for third in America East in points per game (1.14), although he has gone five games without a goal.

The Levi is Not Dry: Houapeu now has nine goals in 13 games this season and became the 11th player in school history to amass 25 career goals. He has 74 career points (28-18-74) and has moved into eighth place on UMBC’s all-time scoring list.  The nation’s leading scorer in 2009 was ranked in several NCAA statistical categories entering play this week.

Points Per Game:          23^th (1.5)                 Goals Per game            17th (0.64)

Total Points:                 20^th (21)                   Total Goals:                  17^th (9)

The two-goal effort by Houapeu at Albany was the fifth multi-goal game of his career and first since scoring twice at Towson on Sept. 8. The last player to hit the 25-goal plateau was Derek McElligott, who did so in the 2003 season and finished his career with 47 tallies. He leads America East in goals/goals per game and points/points per game, but has been scoreless in UMBC’s last three games.  

Bullish on Bulls:, Junior forward/midfielder Andrew Bulls was the America East Men’s Soccer co-Player of the Week for games ending Oct. 24. He scored the game’s first goal in wins over Penn State and Hartford and added two assists vs. the Hawks. Bulls became the first player in school history to post 25 career goals (26) and 25 career assists.   

He has now posted two assists in a game on four occasions this season (VMI, Mount St. Mary’s, Albany, Hartford). He has 12 assists on the campaign and is tied for first in the nation in both assists (12) and assists per game (0.86) entering play this week. The preseason Hermann Award candidate now has 25 career assists, moving into second place on the school’s all-time list. His 77 career point total (26-25-77) moves him into a tie for seventh place on UMBC’s all-time scoring list. 

Bulls leads America East in assists/assists per game.  He followed Houapeu and became the 12^th player in school history to post 25 career goals.

Other Player Notes: Senior Chris Williams played exclusively in the backfield for his first 59 career games of his career, but has played in the midfield in UMBC’s last seven outings. He responded with UMBC’s first goal of the contest at Bucknell and his six points this season (2-2-6) is a new personal best.  

Junior goalkeeper Dan Louisignau recorded five saves at UNH on Oct. 9 to post his first shutout in a UMBC uniform as the Retrievers and Wildcats battled to a scoreless tie. Louisignau is 5-1-2 with a 1.05 goals against average, but has allowed only six goals in his last 724 minutes of action (0.75 gaa) since taking over the starting goalkeeping position.  He made his first official career start on Oct. 2 vs. Binghamton and posted a team season-best nine saves. The nine saves was the most for a Retriever goalkeeper since Steve King posted 12 at Virginia Tech on Oct. 14, 2008. 

Two of Milo Kapor’s three career goals have been game-winners in big spots on the road. Prior to his dramatic score at PSU, the Canadian blasted in the eventual GWG in the 41^st minute in the 2-1 America East semifinal victory at UNH.

Sophomore defender Liam Paddock scored his first career goal vs. Hartford; freshman back Daniel Welsh added his second and both have come vs. America East competition.

Team Notes: UMBC is 29th in the nation in scoring, averaging 1.93 goals per game.  The Retrievers were sixth in the nation in scoring in 2009, averaging 2.15 goals per contest.  UMBC’s 110-minute shutout of UNH was the squad’s first clean slate since blanking Wofford, 2-0, on Sept. 4.

UMBC has a four-game road unbeaten streak (3-0-1) alive and is 4-3-1 away from UMBC this season.

The Retrievers are 6-0-1 when scoring the first goal this season and 6-0-0 when leading at halftime. They are also 2-0-2 in 2010 in overtime, after posting a mark of 0-3-8 in their previous 11 overtime contests. Prior to the 2-1 overtime win over La Salle, UMBC’s last overtime win occurred at Maine (2-1) in the 2006 season.

With the back-to-back wins over La Salle and Mount St. Mary’s, UMBC recorded back-to-back come-from-behind wins for the first time since early in the 2000 season, when they rallied to defeat Holy Cross (4-3, 2ot) and Delaware (2-1, 2ot) on Sept. 3 and Sept. 6.

Caringi’s goal vs. Binghamton broke a streak of five straight contests in which UMBC has allowed the game’s first goal.  

The Retrievers had posted come-from-behind victories in the 2-1 home win over La Salle on Sept. 15 and the 3-2 victory at Mount St. Mary's on Sept. 18. The Retrievers trailed the Mount, 2-0, at halftime and rallied to win from a two-goal deficit for the first time since a 4-3 overtime win (they trailed 3-1) over Coastal Carolina on Oct. 11, 1997. The last time they won in 90 minutes after trailing by two goals occurred a year earlier when they erased a 2-0 deficit at Winthrop and defeated the Eagles, 4-3, on Oct. 21, 1996.

The Series: UMBC won the first two contests vs. Vermont, but are winless (0-3-2) in the last five meetings. UMBC has scored just once vs. the Catamounts in the last three games. Last season, Vermont won at home, 3-1, snapping the Retrievers’ season-opening nine-game winning streak and garnering their lone victory of the season. Bulls scored UMBC’s only goal of the game in Burlington.