UMBC

BALTIMORE—The UMBC women’s soccer team will kick off the 2009 campaign against 2008 NCAA Sweet 16 participant Rutgers on Aug. 25, the first of four straight road games to start the season, second-year head coach Alyssa Radu announced today.

The Scarlet Knights were ranked 21st in the final NSCAA/adidas poll after upsetting No. 20 Penn State and No. 7 Oklahoma State in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

The Retrievers will also travel to La Salle (Aug. 30), Patriot League regular-season runner-up Bucknell (Sept. 2) and cross-town rival Towson (Sept. 6) before their home opener against George Washington, which will be played under the lights at UMBC Stadium on Sept. 18.

UMBC’s non-conference schedule also features home games against VMI (Sept. 24) and Penn (Sept. 29) and road trips to George Mason (Sept. 22) and Delaware State (Oct. 2).

The Retrievers open America East Conference play on Sept. 27 at Maine, while their first league home game is Oct. 4 against Vermont. UMBC also hosts Hartford (Oct. 11), Albany (Oct. 15) and New Hampshire (Oct. 22), while traveling to America East runner-up Stony Brook (Oct. 8), Binghamton (Oct. 18) and two-time America East champion Boston University (Oct. 25).

“As usual, the America East will be challenging this year, but we expect to compete against every opponent in the conference,” Radu said.

The America East Championships will keep the same format as last season, with the Nos. 3 and 4 seeds hosting the quarterfinals on Thursday, Oct. 29, and the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds hosting the semifinals on Sunday, Nov. 1. The highest remaining seed will then host the title game on either Saturday, Nov. 7 or Sunday, Nov. 8.

The Retrievers look to return to the six-team conference tournament for the first time since 2005.

RETRIEVERS NAME CAPTAINS: Senior back Arielle Tagger (East Brunswick, N.J./East Brunswick) and junior back Christine Sadowski (Baltimore, Md./Kenwood) were voted team co-captains by their coaches and teammates. Sadowski started 17 of 19 games last season and posted a goal and an assist, while Tagger was limited to just four games due to injury.

“Their different personalities will compliment each other well,” Radu said. “They have already stepped up and given us the type of leadership required to be successful. I also expect our senior class to lead us this fall.”