Maple Blogs – Volume 1, College Soccer Storybook Seasons
Welcome to my blog site, where I’ll be posting my experiences, past and present, usually within the sports realm.
I want to open my second entry (the first was Capitals’-related and one that I will continue to update as the 2024-25 season progresses) by congratulating the University of Vermont men’s soccer program for their remarkable storybook season which culminated in a national championship on December 17. Men’s soccer is one of the few NCAA Division I sports that can produce a mid-major champion (see Marshall, 2020, Akron, 2010). The moderate number of schools (212) that sponsor the sport is a factor, along with the very capricious nature of the game itself. (By comparison, 347 NCAA Division I schools sponsor women’s soccer and schools from Power V conferences have dominated the national semifinals this century.)
Ironically, 2024 marked the 10-year anniversary of UMBC’s men’s soccer program shocking the nation and advancing to the national semifinals in Cary, N.C., also known as the College Cup. And I was with that group of coaches and student-athletes nearly every “step” of the way.
As the athletes came back to campus that summer, I was involved in competition of my own. My modified fast-pitch softball team was playing for the championship on a warm mid-August Sunday morning/afternoon. In the first inning of the title game, this 51-year old body, but 21-year old brain tried to advance from first to third base on a single to right field. Bad idea. A day later, I would learn that I had torn my Achilles tendon and, a week later, underwent my first major surgery. Not fun.
I was able to attend the late August men’s soccer home matches, but was unable to post for a Sept. 7 home contest vs. App State. In covering the program since the 1980’s, I could count on one hand the number of home games that I did not witness in person. So, yes, I missed a few “steps” along the remarkable journey.
I finally got back to negotiating the hill leading up to Retriever Soccer Park as America East play opened on Oct. 4. The Retrievers were a modest 4-4-2 heading into that game, a far cry from the 2013 squad, which rose to No. 5 in the nation, earned an NCAA home playoff game (first in school history) and finished the year at 16-1-2.
UMBC did not overwhelm their league foes, but just kept posting results en route to a regular season crown. Three of six wins (6-0-1) occurred by a single goal and the team seemed more vulnerable than any of the three predecessors (2010, 2012, 2013) that captured America East championships.
In both home playoff games, the Retrievers conceded the game’s first goal. In the semifinals vs. Vermont, UMBC would respond twice in the first half, overcoming the Catamounts, 3-1. A feisty Hartford squad was determined to avenge a 4-0 shellacking in the 2013 and scored in the 38’ of the championship game.
I wasn’t in the locker room at halftime, but I can imagine the speech that Pete Caringi, Jr., delivered to his charges. No one was better at motivating a team than the local soccer fans proclaimed “the mayor of Baltimore.”
UMBC broke through in the 62’ minute to knot the score at 1-1. Then, in the 76’, unheralded defensive midfielder Gregg Hauck scored one of the most elegant and significant goals in school history, bending a shot from just outside the box into the upper right quadrant of the cage.
The Retrievers prevailed, 2-1, and hoisted another America East trophy on their pitch. But the literal road to the College Cup would begin five days later in Winston Salem, N.C. against an explosive Wake Forest squad.
But the underdogs – a solid defensive team in the regular season – became impenetrable in the post season. WFU couldn’t dent the net in 110 minutes, then misfired on three-of-five shots in the penalty kick shoot-out as UMBC advanced.
Next up was a date at fourth-ranked Maryland. The game was played on a Sunday evening, only hours after I landed at BWI following a men’s basketball trip to Minnesota. Luckily, I had just discarded the walking boot and was traversing the multitude of stairs in both venues (mostly) pain-free.
Most of the 3,776 fans were Terp supporters, but the volume levels of both contingents was a dead heat.
Maryland dominated the first half, but could not ultimately solve Retriever goalkeeper Billy Heavner and the UMBC defense. Caringi must have convinced the little brothers of the UM system that they belonged because the Dawgs responded in the next 45 minutes. Junior Malcolm Harris, another undervalued player, pounced on a rebound and deposited it across the goal line in the 70’.
When the final horn blew, it was the black-and-gold clad fans that stormed Ludwig Field. Onto Louisville.
The Retrievers came out of the gates invigorated against the 12th-ranked Cardinals and earned a penalty kick in the 23’. PK expert Mamadou Kansaye stepped up and calmly netted the attempt. Louisville did pressure in the second half, but none of their nine second half attempts eluded Heavner and Caringi’s crew was headed for a national quarterfinal match at Creighton.
It would be UMBC’s first and only game on an artificial surface in the tournament, but the Retrievers matched the Bluejays chance-for-chance. There were a few close calls, but, after 110 minutes, neither side had scored.
Heavner was the hero, saving the first attempt in penalties, and UMBC never trailed. Knotted at 3-3, Kay Banjo tucked in the game-decider just inside the left post, setting off a wild celebration.
I’m still not embarrassed to say that I wept in Caringi’s arms on the turf at Morrison Stadium.
UMBC men’s soccer was the talk of Charm City on the run-up to the trip to Cary and a date with Virginia. Hundreds of fans and the entire Baltimore press corps attended the send-off and many of those supporters had their voices heard during the match.
But the greatest varsity season in school history ended in a 1-0 setback to the eventual national champions. Despite taking nine corners to just two for the 16th-seeded Cavs, UMBC conceded an early goal and could not get the equalizer.
In a recent interview with the America East Conference’s Ben Stockwell, Caringi recently reflected on the 2014 team and how its success likely spurred a program like Vermont to reach the pinnacle of the sport.
“I could see it coming,” he said, referring to the aftermath of UMBC’s run. “In coaches’ meetings, I could sense that whole change of direction of what (they) thought could happen. There’s a sense now that any one of the teams can make their run.
“That (2014 season) kind of set the tone for what’s going on now in America East, the belief that you can do it.”
And so Vermont did.