Five College Cup Participants Highlight Men’s Soccer Schedule

Preseason:

August 21- @ James Madison (10-5-3)- TBD

JMU has always been a solid team in the CAA, and should be a great preseason test to get the team ready to play the season.

August 25- Maryland (15-6-2)- 4:00 pm

You’re reading it right. UMBC will play Maryland at UMBC Soccer Fields in the preseason. While the result won’t matter for the season, you can bet the team will be fired up to play the Terps, who are one of the top teams in the nation year in and year out. It should be a great atmosphere there, possibly better than most of the regular season games.

Regular Season:

September 2- VMI (2-15-1)- 4:30 p.m.
Top returning scorers (Goals-Assists):
Brian Harding (3-1)
Forrest Moul (2-1)

VMI is a better team than their record, but should be a nice game to see the depth of their team early on, and work things out that they learn from their pre-season game from Maryland.

September 4- Wofford (13-3-3)- 1:00 p.m.
Top returning scorers:
Wilson Hood (7-2)
Kendel Owens (6-2)

The Retrievers will welcome the Southern Conference champs early in the season. This has the potential to be a very close game. It could go either way.

September 8- @ Towson (7-10)- 4:00 p.m.
Top returning scorers:
Liam Maloney (10-4)
Marco Mangione (8-4)

As always, a game against Towson is tough, and teams rarely beat Towson at home.

September 11- @ Navy (8-11)- 7:00 p.m.
Top returning scorers:
Michael Rakoczy (2-4)
Eric Wootten (2-1)

Don’t look at the losing record and poor history as a sign of a potential blowout. Navy made a coaching change last year and got much better after just one year. In year two of the new era they should be much better.

September 15- La Salle (6-10-3)- 7:00 p.m.
Top returning scorers:
Glenroy Chapman (4-1)
Jeff Pio (3-3)

UMBC beat La Salle 3-0 on their home turf last year, the Explorers are going to be dying to get revenge back on the Retrievers.

September 18- @ Mt. St. Mary’s (6-9-1)- 7:00 p.m.
Top returning scorers:
Chris Wheeler (7-1)
Eric Detzel (4-1)

The old Northeast Conference rivals are always a tough team to beat no matter what their record is.

September 22- @ Loyola (11-8-3)- 7:00 p.m.
Top returning scorers:
Phil Bannister (4-13)
Glenn Leitch (6-0)

UMBC finally got over the hump and beat their big rivals last year, in impressive fashion. Loyola was able to bounce back from it in conference play and get to the College Cup, but it should be another great game.

September 26- @ Farleigh Dickinson (9-8-1)- 7:00 p.m.
Top returning scorers:
Dominic Reinold (12-4)
Paul King (5-6)

Another old Northeast conference Rival, since UMBC left the conference Farleigh Dickinson has been an absolute powerhouse, either winning, or contending for the championship every year since.

October 2- Binghamton (9-9-1)- 1:00 p.m.
Top returning scorers:
Jake Keegan (7-3)
Scott Zobree (2-4)

Never underestimate the Bearcats, in any sport for that matter. They may not return as much as they have in the past, but they always have solid players who step up and dominate their competition.

October 5- @ Bucknell (17-6)- 7:00 p.m.
Top returning scorers:
Brendan Burgdorf (9-2)
Luke Joyner (3-6)

This could be the Retrievers best game of the year. Bucknell is the reigning Patriot Champions and return a lot from that team. It should be a very good road test right after they start conference play.

October 9- @ New Hampshire (9-7-2)- TBD
Top returning scorers:
Dylan George (4-3)
Jordan Thomas (3-1)

It depends on the light situation on when the time of the game will be, but this should also be a good test. New Hampshire lost Chris Banks, but they didn’t win the regular season championship for no reason, they have solid players on their team and should once again test the Retrievers.

October 13- @ Albany (0-13-3)- TBD
Top returning scorers:
Bo Jevolac (2-1)
Ian Peach (2-0)

Nobody really knows what happened to Albany last year after dominating everybody two years ago, but don’t expect another o-fer season from the Great Danes.

October 12 or October 14- Boston U (9-7-2)- TBD
Top returning scorers:
Aaron O’Neal (11-4)
Michael Bustamente (2-10)

Right now this game is scheduled for a Saturday afternoon, but is a top candidate to move to a Thursday night to be Nationally televised on Fox Soccer Channel’s game of the week. Boston U struggled during conference play, but were always the most dangerous team in the conference despite that.

October 20- @ Penn State (12-8-2)- 7:00 p.m.
Top returning scorers:
Matheus Braga (7-7)
Drew Cost (3-2)

Now they are starting to play with the big boys. Penn State won the Big East Championship last season and return a bevy of talented players.

October 23- Hartford (8-7-3)- 1:00 p.m.
Top returning scorers:
Patrick Boucher (3-3)
James Stamopoulos (1-4)

Hartford is another team that no matter the record, they’re tough. They beat UMBC 4-0 last year, and they are going to want to get revenge this time around.

October 27- Vermont (1-10-5)- 7:00 p.m.
Top returning scorers:
D.J. Elder (3-0)
Yannick Lewis (2-1)

Vermont’s lone win last year was one that ended the Retrievers perfect start, but the 10 losses were very deceiving. They played good competition and were never beaten badly, they got just barely beaten the entire year.

October 30- @ Stony Brook (6-10-4)- TBD)
Top returning scorers:
Leonardo Fernandes (7-2)
Berian Gobeil (5-2)

The rematch the team is dying to play. Stony Brook was the reason UMBC missed the NCAA tournament last year as they lost to them in the finals. Both teams return pretty much every key piece from their successful seasons last year and it could result in a second Nationally Televised Fox Soccer Channel Game of the Week for UMBC. Though nothing has been mentioned yet.

This is a very good schedule for where the Retrievers are right now. Every game is going to be a test and with four championship teams on their non-conference schedule, they should be ready to play their conference games, which is one again, one of the strongest conferences in the country.