CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- University at Albany's Claudio Dantas (Orlando, Fla./Crystal Lake/Jefferson College) and University of New Hampshire's Kyle Urso (Lombard, Ill./Glenbard East) each earned Most Valuable Player honors at their respective season-opening tournament and have been named America East Co-Players of the Week in men's soccer for the week ending September 1. UMBC's Andrew Bulls (Millersville, Md./McDonogh) was chosen Rookie of the Week to round out the first weekly honors of 2008.
Dantas, a junior forward, helped the Great Danes win the Robert Morris Invitational last week by scoring all three of his team's goals on the weekend, including the game-winner in each contest. A two-time junior college All-American from Jefferson College, Dantas scored twice in a 10-minute span in a 2-1 win over Pittsburgh on Friday and buried home a header in the fourth minute of a 1-0 victory over host Robert Morris on Sunday. His tournament MVP performance has Albany off to its first 2-0 start since 2004.
Urso, a senior forward, tallied five points and provided the game-winning scores in both Wildcat wins at the 19th Annual Nike Fall Classic over the weekend. Urso, who was named MVP of the tournament, notched his team’s second goal late in the first half in a 2-1 win over Adelphi on Friday and rocketed home the first score in a 2-0 win over Rhode Island on Sunday on free kick from over 40 yards out. The senior forward also tallied an assist against the Rams.
Bulls, a freshman midfielder, tallied a goal and two assists in his first collegiate game on Friday, a 4-2 Retriever victory over St. Mary’s (Calif.) in the first game of Navy Classic on Friday. A freshman midfielder, Bulls, helped set up the first two UMBC goals in the first half and sealed the victory with a score in the 89th minute, after the Gaels had narrowed the deficit to one.
Team Notebooks
Albany (2-0-0, 0-0-0 America East) defeated Pittsburgh on Aug. 29, 2-1, and Robert Morris on Aug. 31 by a score of 1-0 to win the Robert Morris Invitational championship over the weekend ... The Great Danes are off to a 2-0 start for the first time since 2004 when the squad won a share of the America East Conference regular-season crown and for just the second time since joining the Division I ranks in 1999 ... Junior Claudio Dantas (Orlando, Fla./Crystal Lake/Jefferson College), a two-time junior college All-American, scored all three goals for the Great Danes and was named Tournament MVP for his efforts ... Both of Dantas’ game-winning goals were scored on headers ... Freshman Konner McNamara (Mississauga, Ontario/Iona C.S.S.), senior co-captain Erik DiLorenzo (Bolton, Ontario/Robert F. Hall C.S.S.) and junior Mike Peters (Westervoort, Netherlands/Candea College/Hogeschool Apeldoorn) joined Dantas on the All-Tournament Team ... The 2-1 win over Pittsburgh on Friday marked the program’s first win over a Big East Conference opponent since Sept. 22, 2004 when the club beat Syracuse by a score of 1-0 ... Gaby Seguin-Gauthier (Chateauguay, Quebec/College Francais/Champlain College) assisted on both of Dantas’ game-winning goals ... Freshman goalkeeper Adrian Foncette (Arima, Trinidad & Tobago/Fatima) preserved his first career shutout in his collegiate debut against Robert Morris by making one of his four saves on a Colonial penalty shot in the 87th minute ... The Great Danes will travel to California for the Courtyard by Marriott Central San Diego Tournament this weekend ... UAlbany faces San Diego on Friday at 10:00 p.m. Eastern and San Diego State on Sunday at 4:00 p.m.
Binghamton's (1-1-0, 0-0-0 America East) corner kick tandem of sophomore midfielder Darren McAllister (Aberdeenshire, Scotland/Virginia Intermont) and senior back Liam Carson (Broxburn, Scotland/Motagu Secondary) struck for a pair of goals during the Bearcats’ weekend at the West Virginia Tournament ... a pair of freshmen, midfielder Ryan Walter (Snyder, N.Y./Nichols) and forward Andy Tiedt (Akron, N.Y./Akron) are starting to make their mark on a veteran squad. Walter has started both games while Tiedt was a reserve against Duquesne on Aug. 29 before taking over the starting forward position on Aug. 31 against Lafayette. In a 1-1 exhibition tie two weeks ago, it was Tiedt who scored the Bearcats’ lone goal.
Boston University (0-2-0, 0-0-0 America East) opened the 2008 season with a pair of losses to nationally ranked teams, falling to No. 4 Boston College, 2-1, on Friday and taking No. 13 Massachusetts to double overtime before losing, 3-2, on Sunday... Sunday’s home opener at Boston University drew 5,935 fans to Nickerson Field, a regular-season record for soccer in Massachusetts and the second-largest crowd in the country so far this season... Sophomore Ryan Shea (Boston, Mass./Hanover) scored a goal in his collegiate debut on Friday at Boston College and added an assist in Sunday’s match against Massachusetts... Sophomore Aaron O’Neal (Virginia Beach, Va./Kellam) tallied a goal and an assist on Sunday... Freshman Ben Berube (Somerset, Mass./Somerset) scored his first collegiate goal on Sunday... This week, the Terriers play their third-straight nationally ranked opponent to open the season, No. 2 Connecticut, on Saturday in Storrs, Conn.
Hartford (1-0-0, 0-0-0 America East) opened its 2008 campaign with a 4-0 victory over the Red Foxes of Marist Saturday evening at Al-Marzook Field at Alumni Stadium. Forward Carlos Villa (Las Conchas, Guatemala/San Jacinto College) led Hartford in his first game as a Hawk. Villa tallied two goals and an assist in the shutout. Sophomores Bojan Delibasic (Novi Sad, Serbia/Svetozar Markovic Gymnasium) and Sam Groves (Sutton, MA/Worcester Academy) recorded a goal apiece for Hartford, while junior goalkeeper Nenad Cudic (Novi Sad, Serbia/Auburn University at Montgomery/Fourth Grammar School) earned his first shutout of the season, saving the two shots he faced from Marist.
Maine (1-1-0, 0-0-0 America East) split a pair of games at the UNH Nike Classic in Durham, N.H. on the weekend... Maine fell to a strong Rhode Island team 2-1 after holding a lead a good part of the game... Newcomer Nikola Bogdanovic (Belgrade, Serbia) scored the lone goal for the Black Bears in the 2-1 loss to the Rams... Maine keeper Nemanja Kostic (New Belgrade, Serbia) tied his career-high with seven saves in the game against the Rams... Maine shut out Adelphi 1-0 on Sunday afternoon... Kostic picked up his first shutout of the season and second of his career in the game against Adelphi... He made six saves in the game... Dimitri Anastasiou (Colchester, Conn./Bacon Academy) scored the game-winning goal for Maine... Anastasiou led Maine in scoring last season and had two game-winning goals a year ago... Thomas McCole (Toronto, Ontario) assisted on the goal by Anastasiou against Adelphi... Anastasiou was recently named Maine captain....Marc Goulet (Plainville. Conn./Plainville High School) and rookie Daniel Tannous (Thornhill, Ontario/St. Elizabeth) were both named to the UNH Nike Classic All-Tournament Team... Tannous played all 180 minutes in the two games on the weekend... The Black Bears travel to Connecticut next weekend... Maine will play Sacred Heart on Friday and Yale on Sunday afternoon.
UMBC (1-1-0, 0-0-0 America East) split a pair of games in the season-opening Anders Classic at Navy this weekend... UMBC tied a 2007 season high with four goals in a 4-2 triumph over Saint Mary’s (Ca.), but fell, 2-1 in double overtime to nemesis St. Francis (N.Y.)... The Terriers also frustrated UMBC in tournament play last year, drawing with the Retrievers (0-0, 2ot) at the 2007 adidas Kick Off Classic... Junior Andrew Gillis (Baltimore, Md./Perry Hall) and freshman Andrew Bulls (Millersville, Md./McDonogh) led the offensive explosion vs. the Gaels with a goal and two assists each... Sophomore John Paul Waraksa (Media, Pa./Strath Haven) scored his first career goal to open the scoring and sophomore Levi Houapeu (Germantown, Md./Watkins Mill) also dented the net... Gillis matched his career total with the two-assist effort... Senior midfielder Dan Bulls (Millersville, Md./Old Mill) got UMBC on the board first vs. St. Francis (N.Y.), scoring on a direct kick in the 16th minute, but the Terriers were the beneficiary of an own goal late in the first half and knotted the game at 1-1... UMBC lost steam in the final 57 minutes, managing just two shots and St. Francis got the game-winner 1:28 into the second extra session... Projected starters Kevin Gnatiko (Montgomery Village, Md./Watkins Mill), Shondell Busby (Toronto, Ont./Dante Alligery) and B.J. Quigley (Dundalk, Md./Archbishop Curley) did not play vs. St. Mary’s due to injury, although Gnatiko made a brief appearance off the bench vs. the Terriers... UMBC hosts the 11th annual adidas Kick Off Classic this weekend and will face first-time opponents Lipscomb and Adelphi.
New Hampshire (2-0-0, 0-0-0 America East) opened up its 2008 campaign with two wins this weekend while hosting the 19th Annual Nike Fall Classic... The Wildcats, who rank seventh in the Northeast (NSCAA/Adidas Regional Rankings), defeated Adelphi University 2-1 on Friday afternoon... Junior forward Chris Banks (Westborough, Mass./ Westborough) tallied the Wildcats’ first goal of the season and senior forward Kyle Urso (Lombard, Ill./Glenbard East) notched the game-winner... Urso, who was selected as the MVP of the tournament, also had the game-winning goal in the Wildcats’ 2-0 victory against Rhode Island, on Sunday afternoon... Banks’ scored his second goal of the season with 47 seconds remaining in the game to secure the win for the Wildcats... Urso earned the assist on the play as he played the ball quickly up the field before crossing it to Banks, who scored off his own rebound... Banks, along with Mike McKee (Newtown, Pa./Council Rock North) and Joe Annese (Attleboro, Mass./Attleboro), was also named to the All-Tournament Team... The Wildcats return to action on Friday, Sept. 5 when they travel to Burlington, Vt. to take part in the 2008 Smith Barney Classic. New Hampshire will face Memphis on Friday afternoon and Lasalle on Sunday, Sept. 7.
Stony Brook (0-1-1, 0-0-0 America East) went 0-1-1 to start the 2008 season... The Seawolves came back from a 2-0 deficit to tie Hofstra, 2-2... Freshman Tom Butler (Birmingham, England/Bromsgrove School) got Stony Brook on the board with a shot from the left side... Senior Dawid Ditrich (Gdansk, Poland) arguably made the save of the year in just the first game... Ditrich saved a penalty kick in the 80th minute to keep the Seawolves in the game... eight minutes later, Stony Brook tied the score when Junior Petar Rakovic (Kragujevac, Serbia/St. John’s) free kick was headed home by sophomore Mladen Ramic (Belgrade, Serbia/High School for Tourism)... The Seawolves dominated both overtimes but were unable to convert two quality scoring opportunities... Stony Brook traveled to face Lehigh and fell to the Mountain Hawks, 1-0 on Sunday... Ditrich made eight saves in the loss to Lehigh... Stony Brook faces #2 Connecticut on Wednesday night and face Long Island in its home opener on Sunday.
Vermont (1-0-1, 0-0-0 America East), the defending America East champions, opened the 2008 season going 1-0-1 at Michigan State's MSU/Radisson Classic last weekend ... Vermont tied Western Michigan, 1-1, in double overtime Friday and then topped the host Spartans, 2-1, Sunday for its first victory ... The win over the Spartans, who have advanced to the NCAAs twice in the last four years including 2007, was Vermont's first in five tries against a Big Ten program ... Jordan Crasilneck (Eugene, Ore./Sheldon) factored in all three Catamounts goals in the two games. The senior midfielder assisted on UVM's lone goal in the draw with Western Michigan. Against Michigan State he set up the game's first goal and scored the eventual game-winner in the second half ... Crasilneck now has 17 career assists, third all-time at Vermont ... T.J. Gore (Macomb, Mich./Dakota), UVM's lone Michigan native, returned home and had an assist in each game including a helper on Crasilneck's game-winner against the Spartans. Gore's father, Timothy, was a standout basketball player at Michigan State in the early 1980s ... Lee Stephane Kouadio (Woodlyn, Pa./Ridley) scored his first goal of the season just eight minutes into the opener with Western Michigan ... Eight newcomers made their Catamount debut in the first two games including sophomore Connor O'Brien (Jericho, Vt./Mt. Mansfield Union/Franklin Pierce), a transfer from NCAA D-II National Champion Franklin Pierce, who scored his first collegiate goal Sunday at Michigan State ... UVM this weekend hosts the 18th annual Smith Barney Nike Soccer Classic at Centennial Field with New Hampshire, La Salle and Memphis comprising the field ... Vermont hosts La Salle Friday at 4:30 p.m. and Memphis Sunday at 1:30 p.m.