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Men's Soccer Battles to Scoreless Double Overtime Tie With UMBC in America East Opener
Oct. 4, 2008
ORONO, Maine-- The University of Maine men's soccer team battled to a double overtime scoreless tie with UMBC in the America East opener for both teams on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Field in Orono, Maine. The Black Bears move to 3-4-2 on the season with the tie and 0-0-1 in America East play, while UMBC sees it record move to 5-2-2 overall, 0-0-1 in conference play. Maine's Nikola Bogdanovic (Belgrade, Serbia) was named the Man of the Game for Maine, while L.J. Pijnenburg received Man of the Game honors for UMBC. It was the third straight shutout for the Black Bears. It was a defensive battle early on, with neither team recording very many shots. The Black Bears had a 4-3 edge in shots in the first half. UMBC's best chance came from Dustin Dzwonkowski near the 36th minute, while Maine's Dimitri Anastasiou (Colchester, Conn.) had a great chance for the Black Bears a little over two minutes later. Action picked up in the second half, as UMBC had an 11-7 edge in shots. Dan Bulls had the best scoring chance for the Retrievers with a header with 19 minutes left in the game, while Maine's Jake Ostrov (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) had a good scoring chance less than three minutes later. Maine had a 3-1 advantage in shots in the first overtime. The best scoring chance of the day for Maine came in the second overtime. Jordan Antonucci (Gloversville, N.Y.) fired a shot on UMBC keeper Steve King. King was able to deflect the shot up into the air. The ball, however, came right back to him on the deflection, not allowing several Maine forwards the opportunity to get a head on the ball. Maine keeper Nemanja Kostic (New Belgrade, Serbia) made six saves in the game in 108:29. He moves to 2-2-2 on the season. Alex Pilitsis (Brunswick, Maine) was not forced to made a save in 1:31. It was the third straight shutout for the Black Bears and fourth of the season. Maine has not allowed a goal since Sept. 14 against Iona.
UMBC keeper King made three saves. He moves to 5-2-2 on the season. Maine returns to action on Wed., Oct. 8 when it travels to New Hampshire for a 3 p.m. match against the Wildcats. -U-M- |
