UMBC

Head coach Chad Cradock will begin his eighth season with the Retrievers on Saturday, Oct. 4 against Bucknell.

BALTIMORE—UMBC swimming and diving seniors Tina Cantwell (Sinking Spring, Pa./The Hill School), Daniele Surkovich (Ellicott City, Md./Wilde Lake), Justin Bronson (Oshawa, Ontario, Canada/Msgr. Paul Dwyer) and P.J. Sterba (Frederick, Md./Gov. Thomas Johnson) and juniors Tereza Kaplanova (Prague, Czech Republic/J.G. Jarkovskeho), Kate Chialastri (Flourtown, Pa./Plymouth Whitemarsh) and Matt Mattingly (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill West) have been named captains for the 2008-09 season, head coach Chad Cradock announced recently.

“We’re proud to have these seven individuals as our captains,” Cradock said.  “The selection of these particular individuals was voted on by their teammates, so they are true representatives of the program and of the team.  We look forward to seeing them learn and grow as leaders in our program.”

Cantwell, Kaplanova, Surkovich and Chialastri will lead the women’s team, while Bronson, Sterba and Mattingly will lead the men’s team as the Retrievers open competition for the 2008-09 season on Oct. 4 when they host Bucknell in an exhibition meet at 1:00 p.m.  The official start of the season will come one week later when UMBC travels to Raleigh, N.C. to face N.C. State on Oct. 11.

The Retrievers will face the Wolfpack for the first time since the 1998-99 season and will also see the return of William and Mary to the schedule, who they last faced during the 2004-05 season.

Behind the second-year leadership of Bronson and the first captainships for Sterba and Mattingly, the men’s team will look to improve on its 6-1 record from 2007-08, striving for its first undefeated season since the 2004-05 squad went a perfect, 10-0.  After making history as the first America East men’s team to win five straight conference titles, the men will try for their sixth in 2008-09, a feat never before accomplished by any team, men’s or women’s.

The women’s team on the other hand will seek to forget most of last season, when it went 4-4 in dual meets, the worst loss total since Cradock’s debut in 2001-02 which saw the women accumulate six losses.  With two captains returning in Cantwell and Surkovich and the additions of Chialastri and Kaplanova, the Retrievers will look to improve their dual meet record and try for their first undefeated season while vying for their third straight conference title.

“The team is expecting true leadership from these seven individuals and I’m sure that the group will not be disappointed,” Cradock said.

The challenges for the Retrievers will begin as soon as the season begins however, as the Oct. 4 start of the season is the earliest in the history of the program and the Oct. 11 date of the first official meet is second only to the 1998-99 season which saw the Retrievers start competition on Oct. 10.

“This upcoming season is the toughest schedule that I have seen since my time as a head coach, Cradock said.”  “We’re excited for some new challenges and the challenges that our regular opponents bring to us as well.  The strength of our schedule and the challenges we face will allow us to become a better team and a better program.”