Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
UMBC
UMBC Outlasts Bucknell Men's Soccer, 2-1
10/5/2010 8:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Oct. 5, 2010
LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Bucknell men's soccer team held high-powered UMBC to just six shot attempts, but the Retrievers scored on two of them, and a late Tommy McCabe (Sarasota, Fla./Cardinal Mooney) penalty kick was not enough for the Bison in a 2-1 setback Tuesday night at damp Emmitt Field at Holmes Stadium.
The Bison saw their two-game winning streak come to an end and fell to 4-6 on the season, while UMBC improved to 5-3-1 with a win in the first-ever meeting between the two teams.
The Retrievers ranked sixth in the nation in scoring last season and are 24th this season while averaging better than 2.1 goals per game, and they feature the reigning Division I scoring champion in speedy midfielder Levi Houapeu. But it was the Bison who almost notched the game's first goal when Brendan Burgdorf (Westfield, N.J./Pingry School) solidly struck the cross bar with a hard left-footed shot from 20 yards out.
Bucknell possessed the ball well in the early going, but UMBC's dangerous counter-attack resulted in the icebreaker in the 23rd minute. From the right sideline just inside midfield, Andrew Bulls played a ball into the center of the field, where it skipped past the outstretched foot of a Bucknell defender. Pete Caringi touched it forward Chris Williams in the box, and Williams scored past charging goalkeeper Marc Hartmann (Bradenton, Fla./St. Stephen's) to make it 1-0.
The Bison, who outshot UMBC 17-6 in the game, had a couple more good looks in the first half but could not convert. Most notably, Josh Butzke (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Comsewogue) saw his diving header miss the right post by inches in the 28th minute.
UMBC tacked on an insurance goal early in the second half after Nirav Kadam sent a ball into the box from the right side, and it was headed toward the back post where Caringi finished for his sixth goal of the year.
The Bison turned up the pressure in the final 12 minutes, and they had a shot off a corner kick blocked off the line and over the bar by Williams to save a goal. Bucknell's hard work paid dividends with 6:31 remaining, when a cross from the left side was handled in the box by a UMBC player.
Bucknell sent Ross Liberati out to take the penalty kick, and Retrievers keeper Dan Louisignau made a diving save to his right all the way out by the goalpost. But the linesman raised his flag to indicate that Louisignau came off his line too early, the Bison were awarded another chance. This time the left-footed McCabe stepped up and buried the shot into the right side to cut UMBC's lead to 2-1.
The Bison were able to put a number of balls into the box in the closing minutes, but UMBC's defense held strong. With about 12 seconds remaining Bucknell earned a corner kick, but Louisignau broke up a dangerous serve with two Bison converging on him looking for the equalizing header, and time expired.
Hartmann made two saves in the game, and both high on the degree-of-difficulty scale. He stopped Kingsley Onwuka on a breakaway with 10 minutes remaining in the first half, and he made a point-blank stop on Milo Kapor to keep it a 2-1 game with about five minutes remaining.
Bucknell returns to Patriot League play on Saturday, traveling to Holy Cross for a 1 p.m. contest.
