For the second time in three years, UMBC and New Hampshire will meet for the America East men's soccer crown after the two teams each posted 1-0 wins in semifinal action Wednesday. The second-seeded Retrievers downed third-seeded Stony Brook Wednesday evening at Retriever Soccer Park while the fifth-seeded Wildcats beat top-seeded Vermont in the afternoon at Virtue Field.
UMBC and New Hampshire will decide the 2012 league crown Saturday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. at Retriever Soccer Park. The winner will also earn an automatic bid to the NCAA College Cup, where an America East team has advanced to the second round in eight of the last 11 years. A free, high-definition broadcast of the game will be available at AmericaEast.com starting at 6:55 p.m.
In the first semifinal of the day, UNH (7-7-5) got a goal from sophomore forward Paul Bianchi in the 57th minute to advance to the league title game for the fourth time in program history.
The two teams played a scoreless first half with UNH holding a slim 5-4 shot edge at the break. Bianchi broke the scoreless draw 11 minutes into the second as he collected the ball on the right side and sent a shot past America East Goalkeeper of the Year Conor Leland into the lower left-hand corner of the net.
Vermont (8-5-5), the America East regular-season champion, had several good chances to tie the game, including one on Jonny Bonner's free kick from 30 yards out in the 84th minute. But, UNH's Travis Worra made four of his six stops after halftime as his team dealt the Catamounts just their second loss in 14 games and earned its fifth-straight shutout in conference tournament play dating back to 2010.
In the second semifinal of the day, Kadeem Dacres put UMBC (11-4-4) up 1-0 with his goal in the 23rd minute and the Retriever defense held the Seawolves to just five shots , including one on net, all game to earn their third title game appearance in four years.
After a scoreless first 22 minutes, Dacres intercepted a pass in SB U's defensive zone, dribbled around defender on the left side and ripped a shot from the corner of the of the six-yard box into the top of the net. The goal was the junior forward's fifth of the year.
Stony Brook (11-6-1), which was vying for its second-straight league crown and third in four years, had its best chance with 33 minutes with 33 minutes left. America East Midfielder of the Year Leonardo Fernandes sent in a corner kick that was deflected to Raphael Abreu on the near post, who headed it from point blank off the post. The Retrievers were able to hold the Seawolves at bay otherwise, keeping their opponent eight shots below their season average, in winning their sixth straight game and earning their third-ever America East title game appearance.
This will be the fourth-straight year the second and fifth seeds will meet for the conference title. UMBC and UNH played to a scoreless tie in 2010 before the Retrievers won the league title on penalty kicks.
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