One year after meeting in the America East Men’s Soccer Championship semifinals, UMBC and University of New Hampshire will decide the 2010 champion after both teams won semifinal matches on Wednesday evening. UMBC, the tournament’s No. 2 seed, earned a spot in its second consecutive league title game with a 3-2 victory over No. 3 Stony Brook, while No. 5 UNH broke a scoreless tie with 12 seconds left in overtime to knock off top-seeded Boston University, 1-0.
The championship game will be played Saturday at 1 p.m. in Baltimore. Free live streaming video will be available at www.AmericaEast.com.
UMBC (11-4-2) overcame an early Stony Brook goal and responded with three straight scores to close out the first half en route to the win. In a game that saw two of the most offensive-minded teams in the America East go head-to-head, it was the Stony Brook (10-7-3) that grabbed the early lead. Second-team All-America East selection Raphael Abreu netted his team-high seventh goal of the season in the ninth minute to put the Seawolves up 1-0.
However, the Retrievers tied the game in the 36th minute, courtesy of the 13th goal of the season from America East Striker of the Year Levi Houapeu. It was Houapeu that gave UMBC the lead just eight minutes later, as he netted his league-high 14th goal with an excellent finish following a pass from senior midfielder Dustin Dzwonkowski. The Retrievers continued to push for a third goal before the half, and were rewarded when sophomore defender Liam Paddock scored off a header with just seven seconds remaining in the stanza.
Stony Brook came out attacking in the second half and reduced the deficit to 3-2 in the 57th minute when UMBC goalkeeper Dan Louisignau deflected the ball into his net for an own goal. But, Louisignau, a second-team all-conference selection, recovered and made five second-half stops to seal UMBC’s second straight finals appearance.
New Hampshire (9-5-5) pulled off its second consecutive upset in the America East conference tournament by outlasting Boston University (11-5-1), despite being outshot by the Terriers, 23-10.
As they have done throughout the season, the Wildcats relied on their strong defense to stay in the game. America East Goalkeeper of the Year Colin O’Donnell made six saves, including a pair of sprawling stops, to record his league-high ninth shutout of the season.
UNH, which was playing in its 12th overtime game of the season, finally broke the scoring drought in the extra session when senior forward Dylan George received a pass from sophomore forward Charlie Roche, charged through the left side of the defense and found the back of the net with just 12 seconds remaining in the period.
The Wildcats are the second straight No. 5 seed to reach the league title game as UMBC was seeded fifth when it made it last season. The Retrievers got there by beating top-seeded UNH, 2-1, in the semifinals. The two teams played to a scoreless draw earlier this season in Durham.