Sabrina Hoeks was the lone bright spot in the Volleyball team's match against Towson.

After a strong 3-0 sweep of Coppin State University UMBC lost six straight sets in losses to Loyola University and Towson University.

In the third game of the Battle of Baltimore UMBC hit just .069 and managed just 18 kills against now 8-0 Towson.

Sabrina Hoeks led UMBC with six kills and eight digs with two aces. Emily Vandergrift was second on the team with five kills.

Junior setter Allie Spaay set up 15 of the 18 kills, and also came up with three digs and one assist.

UMBC didn’t finish a set within five of the tigers losing 25-18, 25-20, 25-15.

UMBC did come back with a sweep of Morgan State to even their record at 2-2, but no other information has been released.

The Volleyball team will have two days off before they take on George Washington at 6:00 in the RAC on September 7.

They will then host the Madison Bingaman Memorial Tournament on September 10 where they will hist Howard and Ohio State.

Senior captain Chris Williams led the way during a dominating defensive outing.

Sophomore goalie Phil Saunders had a very easy day standing between the posts in the men’s soccer team’s game against Wofford. The reigning Southern Conference Champion, featuring seven seniors with experience playing in the N.C.A.A. tournament against the nations top team’s, managed just five shots in 90 minutes, only two of which were on goal, and were shutout by UMBC.

After a three goal lead at the half against V.M.I. in the season opener the defense broke down and gave up three second half goals, but there were no breakdowns this time.

“The work rate was a lot better this game than the last game,” Senior center back Chris Williams said. “We learned off that V.M.I. second half were we let in three easy goals so we came out and changed our attitudes, worked harder, and got a shutout.”

Coach Pete Caringi said that after giving up “too many soft goals” against V.M.I. he decided to focus on a strong team defense.

“The one game that we had a shutout against Maryland in a scrimmage we really concentrated on playing team defense and I thought we did a good job of that this game,” he said.

As the defense improved, the offense remained dominate. UMBC may have only scored two goals, but they pressured the Terriers the entire game, forcing opposing goalkeeper Andrew Drennan to come up with nine saves.

Nirava Kadam and Levi Houapeu each scored their second goals of the season, and both were assisted by Andrew Bulls, who now has four helpers in two games.

With just 56 second remaining in the first half Bulls found Houapeu up front cutting in from the right. Houapeu then made a a quick move past the defender and then shot it in from 11 yards out for the games first goal.

Bulls’ second assists came at 77:41 when he crossed a long pass from Williams inside to Kadam, who tapped the ball in from two yards out.

Bulls had two great chances to score, the first was on a free kick in the first half that hit the cross bar, and the second was in the second half when he lines up for a penalty kick, but Brennan made the save.

UMBC may have their toughest task yet on Wednesday when they take on beltway rival Towson University. The Tigers beat Mount St. Mary’s in their season opener 2-0 and will be led by the always dangerous duo of Marco Mangione (8 goals, 4 assists in 2009) and Liam Maloney (10 goals, 4 assists in 2009).

UMBC is 12-11-3 all-time against Towson, and have split the last four times they’ve played. UMBC beat Towson last season 1-0.

“Towson is a very good team, very dangerous offensively, and they got maybe one of the best players in the country in Marco Mangioni so we got to be prepared,” Caringi said. “It’s a great rivalry, the coaches know each other, it will be a fun game for both of us.”

Allie Spaay sets up freshman Ali Goc for a kill.

In her first career game freshman outside hitter Ali Goc racked up a team high 12 kills against Coppin State University. Between the Volleyball team’s two games, the second being against Loyola University, Goc totaled 19 kills, 13 digs, five blocks, and four aces.

“I didn’t expect that at all,” Goc said. “But having a setter like Allie Spaay you get great sets every single time so you have to use them.”

With 24 assists in the first game of the season junior setter Spaay passed the 700 assists plateau, and combined with her 29 assists in the team’s second game, she now has 731 career assists, which is 10th all time at UMBC. Spaay also totaled 17 digs between the two games, five blocks, four kills, and two aces.

UMBC opened the season with a sweep of Coppin State (25-16, 25-9, 25-11). UMBC was never really threatened by Coppin State, who were just 0-4 without winning a single set going into the game.

A big reason for UMBC’s success in that game was 15 aces. Freshman Mallory McIntyre recorded a team high five aces in the game while Goc and senior Sabrina Hoeks each totaled four.

“When you serve effectively you can get teams in trouble and you can block some balls,” Coach Ian Blanchard said. His team certainly capitalized on the serves as they recorded 12 assists blocks and one solo block. Iman Kennedy led the team with five blocks and was also second on the team with eight kills.

UMBC did have nine errors off their serves, but that was not something Blanchard was concerned with.

“If you’re going to serve aggressively you’re going to make some errors so you have to make the right balance,” he said. “We don’t have to play the game perfectly to win but we have to play well and control the things you can control.”

Along with having four aces, Hoeks also totaled seven kills and nine digs in the game. Last year Hoeks’ season ended with her second ACL tear, this time it was in her left knee, but she did not look like she lost anything from her game.

“It feels really good [to be back],” she said. “This year is actually a lot better than last year when i came back from my first ACL [injury]. I wasn’t actually planning on playing front row until preseason but I just started getting back, getting back into my serves, it just feels good to be out there again.

Despite missing the end of last season Hoeks totaled 29 aces in 67 sets for a 0.43 ace/set average, which was the highest on the team. It was a slight concern whether her serve would be a dominate this year as it would be more difficult for her to jump and while it wasn’t perfect, that doesn’t look to be any sort of a problem.

“My rhythm is a little off still,” she said. “I’m keeping it a little lower but I’ve been working on it and the speeds actually been going up the last week or so, getting into the 60s.”

UMBC did not have the same fortune in their second game of the day however as they themselves were swept by Loyola University (25-20, 27-25, 25-23).

Kennedy lead the team with eight kills while both Goc and Hoeks had seven. One area that really suffered in their second game was serves. After having pin-point accuracy on their serves in the first game the team had just six aces.

Sara Parkinson opened the 2010 season with a first place finish at the Mount St. Mary's Dual 5Ks. (Courtesy UMBC Athletic Communications)

It seems like Sara Parkinson has been a senior forever, and well, she has been. Parkinson was granted an extra year of eligibility after the last two season, and UMBC’s cross country team has really benefited from it.

Last year Parkinson finished second at the meet, but this year she improved her time by 37 seconds and crossed the line first overall in 17:47.47, which was 18 seconds faster than last year’s winner Octavia Rinehardt of American University.

Junior Keri Wilson was the second Retriever to cross the finish line. She finished 10th overall in a time of 19:51.69, which was six sports better than last year.

Laura Blevins finished the race in 20:59.50 for 23rd place and Cortney Crouse (21:19.28) and freshman Cody Mezebish (22:01.07) rounded out the scoring five with 26th and 34th place finishes, respectively.

The team finished 2-4 overall in their dual meet and placed fifth overall out of seven teams. Their wins came over George Washington (20-37) and Saint Francis (Pa.) (23-32).

Senior Chris Bowie has improved a great deal each season at UMBC. (Courtesy UMBC Athletic Communications)

Junior transfer Sam Boimov, formerly from Salisbury University, quickly stepped up and made an impact for the men’s cross country team that lost several of it’s top runner from last year by crossing the finish line second overall in 15:41.09 at the Mount St. Mary’s Dual 5Ks.

Another newcomer, this one freshman Vinny DiSalvo, made a top ten finish, placing ninth, with a time of 15:58.60.

The two were UMBC’s top two finishers en route to their 4-1 record and second place finish that was only behind reigning champion American University.

UMBC defeated George Washington (17-42), Mount St. Mary’s (18-45), Saint Francis (Pa.) (15-49), and Naval Academy (17-46).

Joining Boimov and Di Salvo in the scoring five for UMBC were senior Chris Bowie, who crossed in 13th place in 16:02.98, freshman Brandan McGee, who finished 17th in 16:11.26, and freshman Nic Escobar, who finished 18th the race in 16:13.68.

Kadet recorded five saves and allowed just one goal in 90 minutes of action but her efforts went wasted as the offense once again failed to put goals one the scoreboard.

After scoring four goals in the season opener the women’s soccer team has managed to score just one in their last four games.

Rachel McKee managed the team’s only shot on goal, but it was saved to shutout the Retrievers.

Nirav Kadam scored one goal and has two assists in his first game as a Retriever.

UMBC beat V.M.I. 5-3, and Houapeu and Bulls only combined for four points.

UNC-Greensboro transfer Nirav Kadam and freshman Pete Caringi led the Retrievers with four points each. Kadam scored one goal and had two assists while Caringi scored two goals in his first career game.

“We know we got some guys who are capable of scoring goals but obviously it was the first game and obviously guys had their chances and Andrew and Levi are going to get their chances,” Caringi said.

Thought Kadam is new to the team, he’s not new to the team. Kadam transferred to UMBC last spring in order to have more time to learn the team’s playing style and a chance learn the tendencies of the other players, and that extra four months of practice really look to be a big help for his already quality game.

“I wanted to come in the spring and learn their style of play and their players,” Kadam said. “It was a great opportunity to come in the spring and just have fun with the guys.”

But more impressively was Caringi, who in his first career game looked like an established senior. While he missed a few chances to score more goals, his two goals both came off pure hustle, and good finishing of course.

His first goal was nearly a nixed play. Kinglsey Onwuka passed the ball inside to Caringi just a few feet in front of the goal. Caringi nearly missed the shot but he slide the ball around the goalkeeper and got it in the far front corner of the goal. His second on came off a blocked shot from Bulls, which he sprinted up the field to clean up for.

The coaches son might wind up starting is he plays like he did against VMI again.

“We should expect what we did today- a lot of goals,” Caringi said. “We’re going to miss over opportunities but we’re going to have a lot more. Our defense give us good through balls and our midfield works hard, and we’re all good at finishing.”

The third member of that impact trio was Danny Shannon, a senior transfer from American University. Shannon scored the games first goal at 18:55. After Kadam kicked the ball up to Houapeu, Houapeu paced the ball perfectly and Shannon shot it without even looking, and sure enough it went in to the upper left corner of the goal.

Shannon returned the favor as those three were in on another goal, but this time it was Shannon who flicked the Kadam pass to Houapeu for the goal.

While the offense showed they are just as good, if not better, as least year’s unit, the midfield and defense had a few breakdowns. After leading 3-0 at halftime Coach Pete Caringi made a goalie change, replacing starter Phil Saunders with Dan Louisignau in order to get him some playing time on the field after having of redshirt in 2009 because of a torn labrum.

Louisignau allowed three goals, but not all of them were is fault, the defense appeared to be “winded” according to Caringi, mostly because of the “very hot and very humid” temperatures.”

“I just thought it was some communication problems, it was a mental let down,” Caringi said.

Fortunately for UMBC is they have a long season to improve that, and as players get back healthy they should be back to where they left off last year.

“I don’t think we can tell yet how good our offense is going to be or in turn how good out defense is going to be,” Caringi said.

It will be had for preseason All-American Andrew Bulls to be a better scorer this year, but his all-around game has gotten even better.

It’s a season of high expectations for the UMBC men’s soccer team as they return virtually everybody from last year’s championship team. But any player or coach will tell you that you just have to take it one game at a time. Before UMBC can even have a chance to think about lifting up a trophy they have to start the season, and establish what they can do during non-conference play. Kicking off the men’s soccer team’s season is V.M.I. While V.M.I. finished just 2-15-1 last year, they do return 16 players from that squad and have a different style of play with a new coach running the show. But with that said, UMBC should be able to beat V.M.I. pretty handedly if they think they have a shot at having a great season.

UMBC has only played V.M.I. twice in program history, and not since 1997, but they are 2-0 against them and have outscored them 6-0 in the series.

UMBC had had a great deal of success in season openers, going 17-2 in them, and in home openers the team is an impressive 16-2-1 under Pete Caringi, who is entering his 20th year at UMBC’s soccer coach.

When you think of UMBC from last year you think of a very high-scoring team, and well after all they did finish fifth in the nation in scoring in 2009, but as more teams focus on shutting down Levi Houapeu and Andrew Bulls, other guys will have to step up. As said in my season preview, what ultimately cost UMBC a championship was that they could not find a player to score when that duo was being marked in the championship game. But this year UMBC will have plenty of scorers. Up front Houapeu and Bulls will be joined by Nirav Kadam and Danny Shannon, two high-scoring transfers, and freshman Petey Caringi.

But it’s the midfield that UMBC is hoping to get there scorers to step up from. Mark Lubetkin and Milo Kapor are both sophomores and should be headed for great good seasons as both showed a lot of promise at the end of last season.

Nirav Kadam could easily start on more other teams but will give UMBC a very good scoring option off the bench for UMBC.

Probable Starters:

UMBC
F- Levi Houapeu (15 g, 13 a, 33 SOG)
F- Andrew Bulls (15 g, 11 a, 42 SOG)
M- Andy Streilein (1 g, 1 a, 4 SOG)
M- Mark Lubetkin (2 g, 4 a, 4 SOG)
M- John Paul Waraksa (0 g, 3 a, o SOG)
M- Kinglsey Onwuka (Transfer)
B- Dave Vaeth (7 Starts)
B- Chris Williams (15 Starts)
B- Liam Paddock (19 Starts)
B- Vince Savarese (20 Starts)
GK- Phil Saunders (68 saves, 24 ga, 73.9%)

Key Reserves:
F- Petey Caringi (Freshman)
F- Nirav Kadam (Transfer)
F- Danny Shannon (Transfer)
M- Dustin Dzwonkowski (3 g, 2 a, 5 SOG)
B- Joe Green (5 Starts)
B- Travis Dennis (Freshman)

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.”

UMBC’s goal came late in the game as well. At 86:41 Sarah Kopytko netted the go-ahead goal off a rebound from a shot by Amy Savage.

While there are no such things as moral victories, UMBC played solid defense (again without Erin Johnson) against a Campbell team that finished 9-9-1 last year and returned several key players.

Sorry for being late fans, but it’s the first day of school and things got a little hectic.