Men’s Soccer Season Preview

Last year the men’s soccer team shocked everybody with a trip to the America East Conference Championship game. After finishing in last place in 2008 the team got both healthy and more experienced, and wound up being the highest scoring team in the AEC and fifth highest scoring team in the entire country. After just his third losing season in his 19 year coaching career Pete Caringi’s team jumped out a 9-0-0 record and ended the season with a 14-6-0 record and fell by just two goals in the conference championship game.

Andrew Bulls

While last year teams were not expecting much from UMBC, this year teams will be gunning for them. They may have been picked to finish third in the AEC preseason coaches poll but with every significant player returning from last year’s team (the only losses were Jamal Molin (6 games), who decided to focus on his academic career- he was a Meyerhoff Scholar Athlete, and Matt Knight (3 goals, 2 assists, 13 games) they won’t be a shock at all.

For fans the expectations may be to have another very successful year, or even win a championship, and they certainly have the talent to do so, but Caringi took a much more modest approach to his team.

“It’s really going to be a developmental thing,” Caringi said. “There are a lot of returning players but there is also a lot of quality new players and it’s going to be all about trying to mend those guys and trying to build something that we get better throughout the year.”

Last year UMBC was carried on the backs of Levi Houapeu (15 goals, 13 assists) and Andrew Bulls (15 goals, 11 assists), who finished one and two in the nation in scoring, respectively. Both of those guys are back, and have every amount of talent to be just as successful, but they might not have to be. The one major downfall for UMBC last year was that as the season wore on both Houapeu and Bulls were being man-marked by defenders and had very few good scoring chances, and the team just could not find a third player to pick up the offense. But this year the team will feature a load of scorers that should help the two out, as well as the rest of the team.

Levi Houapeu

Nirav Kadem and Dan Shannon are both highly touted transfers coming into the program with a lot of success scoring. Kadam did not play last year at UNC Greensboro, but is a very fast striker that gets pasts defenders. Shannon was American University leading scorer last season, and should also be another immediate impact on the men’s soccer team.

“Nirav, he can score…Danny Shannon was the leading scorer at American University, both of them are transfers with reputations to being able to score goals,” Caringi said.

But joining that mix of players up front will be Caringi’s son, Pete Caringi III, who comes into UMBC after being names All-Metro and Second-Team All-State as a senior after scoring 15 goals with 6 assists at Calvert Hall College High School.

As if the offense wasn’t stacked enough with five players who can score the ball, the midfield has a load of players who should be better at scoring the ball. Milo Kapor and Mark Lubetkin both scored two goals late in the season as freshmen, and both should be much better with a year’s experience. Another option could be Dustin Dzwonkowski, who has gotten better and become a more confident scorer each year he’s played.

I think we have a broader spectrum of players who we can count on and I think that excites me more than just having one or two players who you have to depend on,” Caringi said.

UMBC certainly has a high-powered offense but the defense is a very underrated group full of talented players.

In the defensive midfield UMBC will feature seniors John Paul Waraksa and Sean Rothe, two workhorses who will do what ever it takes to get the job done. With Houapeu being healthy last year and able to be a scorer, Waraksa was able to transition from being an offensive threat to being a defensive player, a spot in which he’s much more comfortable.

John Paul Waraksa

“John Paul had a breakout year last year, I though he was one of our best players,” Caringi said. “He’s very determined this year to go out with a bang and have a really good season, and Sean, you put both of them in the midfielder, they’re both hard workers, they’re both similar players, they’re both hungry for us to do better.”

Rothe will be out of action for the first few weeks with an injury but should be back at either defensive midfield or back about a month in.

“Sean has had a little bit of an injury and he’ll be out the first couple weeks but just knowing you have that veteran presence always helps and I think they’ll stabilize this team,” Caringi said.

While the outside positions on defense are a bit in question due to injuries, the UMBC defense will feature two of the best centerbacks in the conference. Senior Chris Williams was a First-Team All-Conference selection last year and has started pretty much since the moment he stepped on campus. Sophomore Liam Paddock started every game he played and earned all-rookie honors last season.

“The defense had a good year last year and to be very honest they didn’t have a good spring,” Caringi said. “It will be interesting this preseason because I thought Liam and Chris had very good years last year. Chris has been very consistent throughout his three years, he’s also an all-conference player, he’s also the captain of the team so I expect him to pick up where he left off last year so now it’s about finding player who compliment those two players. The pool of players is going to be a lot and the best four is going to be the best four who will be playing back there.”

Liam Paddock

Outside those two last year were Vince Savarese and Jason McCarron. Savarese is not the most physically imposing player, but he makes up for every short coming with pure grit. McCarron suffered an injury last year against Loyola, and that injury just progressed into something worse, but he could be back by the start of the season. If he’s not, with Rothe out that backline spot could go to freshman Spencer Williams or midfielders Andy Streilein or Dave Vaeth, both of whom have played the position this preseason.

But when all else fails UMBC should have one of the leagues top goalies, not matter who they choose. UMBC will be going through a very interesting three man goalie battle this year. Incumbent starter Phil Saunders is coming off an All-Rookie Team Honors. Dan Louisignau, who may have started last year if it weren’t for a torn labrum early in the season, is an incredibly established goalie. He transferred from ACC power Virginia and won multiple national championships at the club level. And finally, Miguel Calderon is just a hard worker that has improved a great deal since last year.

“I’m approaching it like I approach everything else,” Caringi said. “Phil is the returning keeper but at the end of the day positions will be won on the field it won’t be won by reputations. Dan brings a great resume and brings a lot of success at the highest level. He’s won a lot of national championships and transferred in from Virginia. Miguel is one of our hardest working players and is great for this team. He busts his tail every practice, and in another program he probably could be a starter this year, and maybe he does this year but all three will be competing every day in practice. Phil’s the incumbent so at the end of the day people have to show me they’re a lot better than Phil, or Phil’s dropped off, but I find these situations are always resolved on the practice field, not in the locker room.”

Phil Saunders

What is going to make UMBC so special this year is going to be that they are going to be so deep and have their choice of any 11 players starting. Players like freshman defender Daniel Welsh, junior midfielder Kinglsey Onwuka, sophomore midfielder Ben Hanson, and freshman defender Travis Dennis will all make very big impacts on the team as well.

“I think the key to the season will be the mixture of players, the chemistry, the blending in of different players and different backgrounds, and at the end of the day it’s really about trying to get the best 11 players to perform up to a certain level,” Caringi said. “Coming into preseason there’s a lot of player amount wise, as many as we’ve ever had here, and I think the quality is going to be really high and that’s the competitive part about now trying to mix this group together and seeing where we can go with it.”

But the key to any team in any year it to avoid a let down. The AEC is going to be a very tough conference and aving UMBC picked to finish third despite everything they did last year is a sign of that. The always dangerous Boston University had a disappointing year last year but should be right back where they were in 2008. Reigning champions Stony Brook University returns with every player from last years squad, and Hartford and Binghamton will as always, reload. Albany and Vermont should also be much better in 2010.

“This conference is a little like the NFL,” Caring said. “You can have a down year one year and that doesn’t make any difference in the next year. It’s a wide open conference, you can sit here and speculate who’s going to be really good and who’s not and I think everybody is going to be really good.”