Albany, N.Y.--The UMBC men's soccer team broke out of its scoring slump in a big way, but allowed the most goals in a game in a decade as the Retrievers fell at conference rival Albany, 5-4.
The Retrievers' winless streak reached five as UMBC dropped to 5-6-2 overall and 0-3-1 in America East play. Albany improved to 9-3-1 and 3-1 in the league.
The five goals allowed by the Retrievers is the most since Maryland defeated the Retrievers, 6-1 in 1998. The nine goals combined by both teams is the most since UMBC overwhelmed NJIT, 10-0 in 2004.
A Retriever Division I team (1986) had never scored four goals and lost a game prior to today's result.
UMBC could not hold a 4-2 halftime advantage. The Retrievers had broken a two-all tie with a pair of scores in short order late in the first half. Freshman forward Andrew Bulls (Millersville, Md./McDonough) gave the visitors a 3-2 lead at the 42:14 mark as he converted Sean Rothe's (Dundalk, Md./Archbishop Curley) pass to the right wing from 15 yards out. It was Bulls' team-leading seventh score of the season.
Then, just 51 seconds before halftime, sophomore midfielder John Paul Waraksa (Media, Pa.) converted for his third goal of the year on a corner kick. It was UMBC's second goal off a corner in the half with both helpers coming from the left foot of senior defender L.J. Pijnenburg (Hamilton, New Zealand).
But Albany wiped out UMBC's advantage with two goals in the span of 109 seconds early in the second half as leading Great Dane scorer Claudio Dantas (eight goals) beat Steve King on a breakaway and a shot from six yards away in the 57th and 58th minutes respectively. The hosts got the game-winner at 69:39, as Don Johnson's steal and cross set up Shaun Kane, who headed the ball past King from ten yards out.
UMBC's best chance down the stretch occurred with four minutes remaining as senior Dan Bulls (Millersville, Md./Old Mill) closed in on a ball at the six yard line. But Albany's Erik DiLorenzo just beat Bulls to the ball and cleared it from danger.
Albany registered 24 shots, outshooting the Retrievers, 24-16. King managed four saves, but just one in the second half.
UMBC took leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the first 45 minutes. Senior midfielder Shondell Busby (Toronto, Ont.) scored just 3:40 into the contest as sophomore defender Chris Williams (Parkville, Md./Calvert Hall) picked up the assist. It was Busby's first goal of the season, but held up for under 11 minutes as Kane scored his first goal of the game in the 15th minute.
Then, Retriever forward B.J. Quigley (Essex, Md./Archbishop Curley) got on the board for the first time this season, scoring on the far left side after a Pijnenburg corner. Quigley put all four of his team-high shots on goal, and gave UMBC the 2-1 lead at 20:07.
Albany's Johnson scored the first of two Great Dane breakaway goals to tie the score at 2-2 in the 40th minute, before UMBC exploded in the final moments of the first half.
