BALTIMORE - UMBC sophomore forward Andrew Bulls (Millersville, Md./McDonogh) scored in 39th minute and freshman goalkeeper Phil Saunders (Perry Hall, Md./Perry Hall) made a couple of key stops down the stretch as the Retrievers improved to 6-0-0 with a 1-0 victory over local foe Towson (3-2-0) at UMBC Soccer Stadium.
Bulls, who entered the week as the nation's leading scorer with 4.0 points per game, netted his ninth goal of the season and his fifth game-winning goal. UMBC tied a school Division I record with the 6-0-0 start, knotting the 1999 squad, which produced the nation's best record of 19-1-2 ten years ago.
UMBC, which entered the game as the nation's second-highest scoring team with 3.8 goals per game, managed just three first half shots against the Tigers, but the third found the net. Bulls was fouled 23 yards from the cage and his ensuing free kick went to the right of the four-man wall and just inside the right post, bouncing out of the reach of Towson netminder John Steele.
Steele did make good saves on shots by UMBC freshman midfielder Mark Lubetkin (Livingston, N.J.) in the 70th minute and junior forward Levi Houapeu (Germantown, Md./Watkins Mill) in the 76th minute.
The Tigers would apply pressure late in the game and had two good opportunities in the closing minutes. Saunders knocked senior forward Tommy Appel-Schumacher's header from close range over the cage in the 85th minute, and TU sophomore defender Josh Spivey volleyed a shot over the goal from in tight with 4:21 to play.
Saunders finished with five saves as Towson outshot UMBC, 13-7. Steele made three stops for the visitors.
Notes: Bulls has scored goals in all six UMBC games to date and surpassed his team-leading total of eight goals in the 2008 season… He now has two goals in two career games vs. Towson… It was UMBC's first 1-0 victory of the season and Towson's first shutout suffered of the campaign… The Retrievers took a slim 12-11-3 series lead after the first match played at UMBC since the 1993 season… UMBC is ranked fifth (tied) in the Northeast region, while Towson entered the week ranked seventh (tied) in the South Atlanti… UMBC continues its season-long five-game homestand by hosting another CAA opponent, Drexel, on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
