CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Following the first men's soccer action of the 2009 season, UMBC's Andrew Bulls (Millersville, Md./McDonogh) and Stony Brook University's Berian Gobeil (Montreal, Quebec/Champlain College-St. Lambert) have taken home weekly awards. Bulls earned Player of the Week accolades, while Gobeil was named Rookie of the Week for the period ending Sept. 7.
Bulls, a sophomore forward, tallied a whopping 14 points on five goals and four assists to lead UMBC to its first 3-0 start since 2004. Bulls, who was named College Soccer News’ National Player of the Week for his efforts, scored once and added an assist in a 3-1 win over ACC-foe Virginia Tech on Wednesday and followed with a two goal, one assist performance in a 5-1 win over Delaware Friday. Bulls, an America East All-Rookie selection last season, concluded his week with two scores and as many assists in a 6-0 win over St. Joseph’s Sunday.
Gobeil, a freshman forward, tallied five points last week, including three in a 3-0 win at Bryant Sunday, the Seawolves’ first win of the season. Gobeil, who scored once and added an assist against the Bulldogs, also gave his squad an early 1-0 lead against Harvard on Friday. The freshman leads all America East rookies and is tied for fourth overall in points through the first week of the season.
America East teams stand at 11-9-2 following the first week of the season and are 3-0-0 against the Big East Conference following Boston University's wins over then No. 12 UConn and Providence and Binghamton's win over Syracuse. The Terriers and Bearcats are joined by UMBC and Hartford as the four unbeaten teams in the conference, going a combined 9-0-1 to this point.
Team Notebooks:
Albany (0-2-1, 0-0-0 America East) lost its season opener in overtime to Northeastern by a 1-0 score … The squad then placed third at the Coastal Carolina/adidas Invitational, playing Coastal Carolina to a 1-1 draw before falling to Virginia Commonwealth by a 2-1 decision … Anthony DeSalvo (Cicero, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse) and Konner McNamara (Mississauga, Ontario/Iona C.S.S.) made the all-tournament team, while Bo Jelovac (Belgrade, Serbia/Sveti Sava School) factored in to both goals … The forward netted the equalizer in the 86th minute against the Chanticleers, and set up the lone goal scored by David Hawksworth (Sheffield, England/All Saints Catholic) versus VCU … Adrian Foncette (Arima, Trinidad/Fatima), a member of Trinidad & Tobago’s under-20 and under-23 national teams, has played every minute in net … The sophomore, who has an .833 save percentage and a 1.22 goals against average, has taken over the starting goalkeeping duties for graduated All-American and AE goalkeeper of the year Steward Ceus … Ceus was also the program’s first player to be drafted by an MLS franchise … UAlbany, which most notably returns Claudio Dantas, the America East striker of the year in 2008, will play four opponents which reached the 2008 NCAA Tournament this season … All nine non-conference opponents finished with a .500 or better winning percentage in 2008 … UAlbany hosts Colgate and Fairfield, a pair of 2008 NCAA Tournament teams, on Friday, Sept. 11 and Sunday, Sept. 13, respectively … Both matches kick off at 4 p.m.
Binghamton (2-0-0, 0-0-0 America East) averaged 1,818 fans in a pair of home victories last week. In the season opener against Syracuse, a crowd of 2,063 came out to the Bearcats Sports Complex. Four nights later, 1,573 fans made the trip out. Since the Bearcats Sports Complex opened in 2007, the men’s soccer team has gone 15-1-1 overall, including 13-0-1 in regular season games. In overtime games at the Bearcats Sports Complex, Binghamton is now 3-0-1 all time … senior back Kyle Kucharski (Endwell, N.Y./Maine Endwell) tallied a career-high three assists in Binghamton’s win over Syracuse on Sept. 1. Against Colgate, although he was not credited with an assist, it was Kucharski’s free kick in overtime that eventually led to Binghamton’s game winner. The three assists is the most by a Binghamton player since the program moved up to the Division I level in 2001 … senior back Kyle Manscuk (Rochester, N.Y./Aquanis Institute) scored in both games last week, including the game winner 1:27 into overtime in the game against Colgate. He now leads the team with two goals and four total points … senior goalkeeper Jason Stenta (Binghamton, N.Y./Chenango Valley) recorded his program-record 32nd save in the win over Colgate. He made five saves against the Red Raiders.
Ranked 14th in the nation by Soccer America, Boston University (2-0-1, 0-0-0 America East) had a stellar start to the season, earning a 0-0 tie on the road at in-state rival UMass followed by 3-0 victories against then-No. 12 Connecticut on the road and Providence at home. Named to TopDrawerSoccer.com and CollegeSoccerNews’ national teams of the week, junior Aaron O’Neal (Virginia Beach, Va./Kellam) has been the offensive sparkplug so far, tallying nine points off four goals and one assist in the three contests. He set up senior Shaun Taylor’s (Sandown, England/Sandown) score against the Minutemen and then recorded two goals each against the Huskies and Friars. Sophomore Ben Berube (Somerset, Mass./Somerset) is also off to a strong start, after scoring the game-winning goal at UConn and posting two assists against Providence. Senior keeper Hrafn Davidsson (Reykjavik, Iceland/University of Iceland) was named to Soccer America’s team of the week after allowing only one goal in 290 minutes of action. He has a 0.31 GAA and .933 save percentage. The Terriers next visit Harvard on Friday at 4 p.m. and then host CSN’s No. 1 ranked St. John’s on Sunday at 7 p.m.
Hartford (2-0-0, 0-0-0 America East) shutout Bryant and Massachusetts in back-to-back wins in the opening week of the 2009 campaign … The Hawks defeated Bryant by a 1-0 final in the season opener on Tuesday and followed up with a 2-0 win over Massachusetts at Al-Marzook Field on Saturday evening … Senior forward Carlos Villa (Las Conchas, Guatemala/ Arrayanes /San Jacinto College ) led the Hawks in week one with five points, including a pair of goals and an assist while senior keeper Nenad Cudic (Novi Sad, Serbia/Fourth Grammar School/Auburn University at Montgomery) earned both of Hartford’s wins in net … In Tuesday’s match against Bryant, Villa teamed up with classmate Ivan Guarin (Periera, Colombia/White Plains/Herkimer) for a late-game winner in the 83rd minute of play … Cudic needed just two saves to earn the shutout … The Hawks outshot the Bulldogs by a margin of 13-7 in the win … In the Hawks’ home opener on Saturday, Villa struck twice in the tail end of the second half to lift the Hawks’ over Massachusetts by a 2-0 final … The game-winner, a free-kick straight on towards the goal, gave the Hawks the advantage in the 69th minute … Villa followed up just six minutes later with an insurance tally, connecting on a well-placed ball by Guarin … Cudic made just one stop to earn the clean slate for the Hawks, the fifth of his career … Hartford travels to University Park, PA for the Penn State Classic … The tournament includes a pair of games opening with Ohio State on Friday and the host team Nittany Lions on Sunday.
UMBC (3-0-0, 0-0-0 America East) is off to its best start since the 2004 season… Moreover, the 14 goals scored in three games (a span of six days) equals the school-record output that UMBC opened the ’04 campaign with… Sophomore forward Andrew Bulls (Millersville, Md./McDonogh) was named National Player of the Week and earned a spot on National Team of the Week by College Soccer News… Both Bulls and junior forward Levi Houapeu (Germantown, Md./Watkins Mill) are the first Retrievers to score goals in three straight games since Kevin Gnatiko did so in 2007… They are also the first UMBC players to post three consecutive multiple-point games since Derek McElligott has two goals in three straight games in 2003… Bulls’ six-point effort vs. St. Joseph’s is the first for a Retriever in five seasons as McElligott (three goals) and Powell Cucchiella (one goal, four assists) posted six points in a 10-0 rout of NJIT on Sept. 4, 2004… Bulls and Houapeu recorded a goal and an assist apiece, as a young Retriever squad bested visiting Virginia Tech, 3-1, before an impressive 1,105 fans in the opening match for both squads at UMBC Soccer Stadium… UMBC won its fourth straight season debut and improved to 17-2-0 in lid-lifters under Head Coach Pete Caringi… junior midfielder Sean Rothe (Baltimore, Md./Archbishop Curley) scored the season’s first goal in the 17th minute before Bulls and Houapeu added scores before a late Tech goal prevented a shutout… The win snapped a five-game losing streak to the Hokies and was UMBC’s first-ever victory over Virginia Tech on home turf… Sophomore Delaware transfer Andy Streilein (Rockville, Md./Wootton/U. Delaware) scored his first Retriever goal against his former mates in the 5-1 win over the Blue Hens… Freshman forward Matt Knight (Kent, England/St. Gregory’s) also had a two-goal game in the 6-0 win over St. Joseph’s… The six-goal outburst is the most for a UMBC team since that 10-0 rout of NJIT on Sept 4, 2004… Freshman netminder Phil Saunders (Perry Hall, Md./Perry Hall) got the start in all three contests and allowed only one goal in 255 minutes of action… UMBC will host the adidas Kick-Off Classic, hosting former Northeast Conference foes St. Francis (Pa.) on Sept. 10 and Mount St. Mary’s on Sept. 12.
New Hampshire (1-2-0, 0-0-0 America East) dropped its season-opener at Iona, a 1-0 decision, before splitting a pair of games while hosting the 20th Annual Nike Fall Classic … Against the Gaels the Wildcats outshot their opponent, 11-4, and were led offensively by Dylan George (Bangor, Maine/Bridgton Academy) and Chris Banks (Westborough, Mass./Westborough) with four shots apiece … Colin O’Donnell (Hampden, Mass./Minnechaug Regional) and Chris Devine (Hampton, N.H./Winnacunnet) split time in net and each made one save … The Wildcats then rallied back to earn their first win of the season with a 2-1 win over Bucknell … New Hampshire evened the score just over 15 minutes into the second half of action when Robin Gerum (Kullavik, Sweden/ Katrinelundsgymnasiet) played the ball up to Banks, who crossed it to Jordan Thomas (Mohnton, Pa.) … The freshman forward fired a hard low shot which got past the Bison keeper to earn the first goal of his collegiate career … Banks tallied the game-winner when he connected off a penalty kick in the 76th minute …O’Donnell posted two saves in the win for the Wildcats … Against CCSU, the Wildcats evened the score, 1-1, with just over five minutes to play in the opening half on a tally by George, but two second-half goals by the Blue Devils secured the tournament title for the visitors … Sean Coleman (Stratham, N.H./Exeter) earned the assist on the play… Devine posted nine saves in the game for the Wildcats … New Hampshire’s George, Banks and Charlie Roche (Haverhill, Mass./Haverhill) were all selected to the All-Tournament Team … The Wildcats will travel to Vermont to take on Massachusetts (9/11) and Portland (9/13) in the Smith Barney Classic.
Stony Brook (1-2-0, 0-0-0 America East) opened its 2009 season with a 1-0 loss to Hofstra… Despite outshooting the Pride, 17-8 and 11-1 in the second half, the Seawolves were unable to score… Freshmen Mehdi Belakehal (St. Hubert, Quebec/Champlain College-St. Lambert), Raphael Abreu (New York, N.Y./Eleanor Roosevelt) and Antonio Crespi (North Babylon, N.Y./North Babylon) each had three shots for the Seawolves… Redshirt-freshman Anthony Rogic (Boonton, N.J./Boonton) made four saves in his first career start for SBU… Freshman Berian Gobeil (Montreal, Quebec/Champlain College-St. Lambert) scored Stony Brook’s first goal of the season… In the Seawolves first win of the season sophomore Wilber Bonilla (Brentwood, N.Y./Brentwood) had a pair of goals and Gobeil added another in a 3-0 win over Bryant… it was the Seawolves most goals scored since a 4-1 win over Marist in September of 2007… Stony Brook plays a pair of Big East schools in its next two games at it takes on St. John’s on Friday evening and Seton Hall on Sunday evening.
Vermont (0-3-0, 0-0-0 America East) suffered it's first season-opening loss under head coach Jesse Cormier when Siena defeated it 1-0 on September 1. Senior Tom Crtiz (Enfield, Conn.) made two saves in the losing effort... The Catamounts then traveled to the UNH Nike Fall Classic where they fell to Central Connecticut State 2-1. Junior Patrick Alonis (Palo Alto, Calif.) scored the first goal of the season off a T.J. Gore (Macomb, Mich.) assist? The assist was Gore?s ninth career assist and 29th career point... Bucknell then defeated UVM 2-1 on Sunday... Freshman D.J. Edler (Atlanta, Ga.) scored his first career goal for the Catamounts in the loss... Vermont will host the 19th annual Smith Barney Classic this weekend?On Friday UVM will play Portland...On Sunday they will face UMass.