The last time the two teams met the Wildcats outplayed the Retrievers in every aspect of the game, but this time UMBC got their revenge and won when it mattered.

Just like against Binghamton, it was freshman midfielder Mark Lubetkin who opened the scoring with the games first goal.  This time he got in in the ninth minute off a pass from Levi Houapeu, which he shot into the lower right corner from 30 yards out.  The goal was just Lubetkin’s second but he could not have timed either one any better as both were in one goal wins.

Then in the 41st miute another freshman, Milo Kapor, scored a second goal for the Retrievers, which turned out to be the game winner.  On the play he knocked a ball into the upper corner of the net with his left foot off a corner kick from Andrew Bulls.  The goal was just his second of the season.

With a 2-0 lead at the half, it was clearly a different UMBC team than the one that took the field against New Hampshire earlier in the season.  But the Wildcats would not stay silent all game.  In the 56th minute first-team all-conference striker Chris Banks ripped in a free kick by Alex Russell to get on the board, but they could not build on it to make a comback.

The Retrievers won the game 2-1 and will play in their first America East Conference Finals against second-seeded Stony Brook on Sunday at 5:00 pm.

The win also marked head coach Pete Caringi’s 200th while at UMBC, and the teams first ever win in Durham, NH.

This season Bulls, UMBC’s first America East Striker of the Year, scored a national leading 15 goals, and 40 points while being third in the nation with 10 assists. He has been the highest scoring player in the nation since week one, when he was named the national player of the week by College Soccer News and NSCAA following a five goal – four assists week.

His 15 goals this year is the sixth-most in UMBC history, and the most since Derek McElligott in 2003.

While it is rare enough for a team to have one player with a double-double in a soccer season, UMBC had two as Houapeu was second in the nation with 29 points off 14 goals and 11 assists. This season he recorded two hat tricks and his 11 assists is tied for fourth most in school history.

The last America East midfielder of the year from UMBC was Matt Watson, who won the award in 2004 and 2005. This year also marks the first time since 2005 that UMBC had two first team all-conference players when Watson was joined on the team by defender Marcus Gross.

They were not the only two who received post-season honors. UMBC also had two freshman on the all-rookie team.

English import Liam Paddock has started all 16 games he has played this year, with the only missed game being due to a yellow card violation. He started each game at center back for the Retrievers and was a big reason for wins over Boston U and Albany when fellow center back and more experienced Chris Williams was out due to an injury.

Meanwhile, Saunders has started all 17 games in goal for the Retrievers and became the first freshman goalie to start the season opener since Soren Byskov did it in 1997. He has recorded 60 saves, a .750 save percentage, and six shutouts, including a four game stretch in mid-September, in which he was named back-to-back rookie of the year.

Andrew Bulls is one of eight nominees for the America East Fans’ Choice Player of the Year for 2009.

In this his sophomore season he leads the nation in goals (15) and points (40) and is tied for second in total assists (10) with two games left in the regular season.

Bulls has been named the America East Player of the Week two times and the College Soccer News and NSCAA National Player of the Week one.

He had led the nation in points the entire year after scoring five goals and four assists in the first three games of the season.

To start the season Bulls posted eleven straight games with at least on point, tying Giuliano Celenza’s mark in 2000. He has scored seven multi-point games this season and became the fastest Retriever to score eight goals in UMBC Division I history.

His 15 goals is the most by a Retriever since Derek McElligott scored 15 in 2003 and is the sixth-more in a season in school history.

Voting for the 2009 America East Men’s Soccer Fans’ Choice Player of the Year ends on Monday, Nov. 2 at 12:00 pm. The winner will be announced on Tuesday, Nov. 3 on America East.com

Junior’s Dustin Dzwonkowski and Levi Houapeu each recorded a goal and assist against Boston University to lead the men’s soccer team to a big road win.

The stakes of the game were higher than anybody could have guessed a few weeks ago when the teams were both nationally ranked. But the loser of the game would be in a very tight position to get into the America East Conference Tournament.

But UMBC did not want to be put in that position and fought their way out of it.

After the Terriers got a 1-0 lead when Aaron O’Neal recorded his tenth goal of the season, Levi Houapeu tied the game up with his 11th goal of the year off a free kick from Andrew Bulls and Dustin Dzwonkowski just 30 seconds later.

Then less than five minutes later Dzwonkowski recorded his first goal of the season, which happened to be the game winner.

UMBC is not 2-2 in the conference and a win or tie in any of their three remaining games to clinch a spot in the America East Conference Tournament.

On Saturday the team plays their final home game of the season against Albany at 1:00.

*UMBC’s logo and player pictures courtesy UMBC Athletic Communications. Boston University’s logo and player pictures courtesy Boston University Athletic Communications.

In the second half UMBC had five very good opportunities to but the game out of hand for the Lancers but they could not seem to finish and missed three shots, were called offsides for another, and one was saved.

With the game tied 2-2 at the end of regulation the game went into a sudden victory overtime period.  Longwood scored a goal in the fourth minute of overtime to take the victory and spoil UMBC’s home coming.

Further coverage of this game will be featured in the October 20 issue of The Retriever Weekly.

Just 12 minutes into the game Andrew Bulls gave UMBc the early lead with shot to the lower right corner of the goal.  His goal marked his 14th of the season and eighth game winner.  One the play he kicked the ball forward to Levi Houapeu, ran past him and got the ball back with nobody around him for the open shot.  He has scored a point in 11 straight games, which ties a UMBC division I record set by Giuliano Celenza in 2000.

Andrew Bulls netted a game winning goal in the 13th minute off a give and go to Levi Houapeu.

Just a few minutes after that tragedy hit for UMBC.  Freshman center back Liam Paddock went down with a foot injury which kept him out for the rest of the game, forcing Caringi to make a few moves.  Right back Vince Savarese moved inside to Paddock’s spot while Jason McCarron, who did not start the game because of a foot injury suffered against Loyola, stepped into Savarese’s spot at right back.  Usual mid fielder Sean Rothe started the game at McCarron’s usual left back spot while Chris Williams once again manned the center of the defense.

But the defense stepped it up big, and in particular Savarese.  Even with his height only being 5’8″ he played a great game at center back and was a big reason freshman goalkeeper Phil Saunders only needed to save four shots.

With UMBC ahead by the lone goal at halftime, they Retrievers looked to be poised to avenge their loss from less than a week prior.  In the 52nd minute Houapeu added an insurance goal after he blasted a shot into the upper right corner from 23-yards out to put UMBC up 2-0, which lasted for the final minutes.

UMBC’ returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 10 at 1:00 when they take on New hampshire, who beat #15 Boston U 2-1 just minutes following the end of the UMBC game.

Further coverage of this game will be available in the Oct. 13 issue of The Retriever Weekly.

For just the second time every UMBC got the best of the Greyhounds as Loyola leads the all-time series 18-2-2. But tonight UMBC proved to be the better team and beat them 1-0 to get to 8-0.

Even though UMBC was outplayed for the majority of the game, the defense lead by freshman goalkeeper Phil Saunders shutdown the Loyola offense and shut them out to preserve the win. It is very rare to see a freshman making such an impact in goal, but Saunders is looking natural out there and recorded six saves, three of which came off shots from inside five yards in the final two minutes.

“I just play the game and instinct takes over,” he said. “I don’t think about much I just think about the game and playing it.”

Early in the season the defense was getting lucky because of a high scoring offense, but lately the defense has been playing near perfect soccer, as shown by three straight shutouts against their three toughest opponents this season: Towson (1-0), Drexel (3-0), and Loyola (1-0).

“When you start out the season you have to get used to playing with certain people,’ said Vince Savarese, who transferred from Loyola before the start of his freshman year. “It just seems that everybody is hitting their groove at the right time. We’re doing well and hopefully we’ll keep the shutouts going and hopefully we’ll keep on this roll.”

But as good as the defense played, the game out have been completely different if Saunders was not back in goal. His poise under pressure has earned him 29 saves on the year while allowing just four goals (87.8 save%). He now also has four shutouts on the season and three straight.

“Today was really the day he proved himself as someone who can handle all the pressure and there is no question we’re not scared anymore about having a freshman in goal,” Savarese said. “He really stepped up today and he just had one hell of a game.”

With Loyola out playing UMBC in the early parts of the game, the 44^th minute completely reversed the momentum of the game. At that moment Andrew Bulls scored his tenth goal of the season after converting free kick from 23 yards out but knocking it into the lower right corner of the goal and immediately following that he and his teammates ran over to the student section to celebrate the 1-0 lead, which ultimately held to be the final score.

“In any game were you’re playing a Baltimore school it’s going to be a battle because you’re trying to prove who is the best in Baltimore and it may not really be a soccer game for the first 40 minutes,” Bulls said. “But as soon as we got that goal it calmed us down.  We reacted to them early and then we got that goal and we started playing soccer.”

Even though some do not believe in a home-field advantage, the UMBC team does and admittedly feed off the crowd of 1,505, who were mostly dressed in black.  The 1,505 is the most people in a game since at least 2003, when the records stop.

“It was a great crowd and the atmosphere was what I expected because it was two Baltimore teams,” said coach Pete Caringi. “I knew we would get a lot of local fans but I was happy with how the UMBC fans came out to support us wearing their black and I think the team feed off their energy.”

While an 8-0-0 record may be the best in UMBC history the team is not finished yet and they have much higher aspirations.

“We all played hard and everyone knows it in the locker room,” Bulls said. You can just feel this vibe and every one worked hard and every one gave it their all but right now at 8-0 you can’t stop us. We’re going to the top.”

Further coverage of this even will be featured in the Sept. 29 issue of The Retriever Weekly.

Junior forward Levi Houapeu recorded all three goals in the game, which was the first retriever hat trick since Kevin Mezzadra did so in a 3-1 victory over Howard on Sept. 20, 2006.

Houapeu’s first goal of the game came in the ninth minute when his origional shot was blocked and rebounded by Sean Rothe, who immediately got the ball back to Houapeu for the score.

In the 25th minute he intercepted a pass and shot it into the right corner from 14 yards out to give UMBC a 2-0 lead, which held until half time.

His final goal came from off a cross by Andrew Bulls in the 77th minute.  The Dragon goalkeeper got a piece of the ball but it was hit hard enough to not be redirected by the goalie’s hands.

The defense recorded their second straight shutout and allowed just four shots on goal, all of which were saved by freshman goalkeeper Phil Saunders.

Further coverage of this event will be featured in the Sept. 22, 2009 issue of The Retriever Weekly.

Andrew Bulls got UMBC on the scoreboard with a converted free kick in the 39th minute.  While UMBC has been accustomed to multiple goals this season it was not the case against Towson.  Bulls conversion was the lone goal of the game but UMBC still got by with a win.

The defense was not at their best in the first five games of the season but when the team needed them most they stepped up and shut down the Tigers offense, allowing them just five shots on goal, all of which were saved.

Further coverage of this event will be features in the September 22, 2009 issue of The Retriever Weekly.