Oct. 27, 2004
Complete Weekly Release
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Massachusetts (7-7-2, 4-2-2) vs. St. Bonaventure (7-7-1, 3-5-0)
Friday, Oct. 29, 2004 • 2:30 p.m. • Rudd Field (2,500) • Amherst, Mass.
Massachusetts (7-7-2, 4-2-2) vs. Duquesne (9-5-0, 5-1-0)
Sunday, Oct. 31, 2004 • 1:00 p.m. • Rudd Field (2,500) • Amherst, Mass.
Senior Day
The Hunt For October
UMass enters another key Atlantic 10 weekend as the regular season winds down ... the Minutemen fell from a third-place ranking in the league to fifth-place after splitting their weekend series with Fordham (10/22) and La Salle (10/24) ... the top six teams in the league will make the A-10 Tournament.
St. Bonaventure enters the weekend ranked ninth in the league, but are just a game out of the sixth spot ... Duquesne is the top-ranked team in the A-10 and should clinch a play-off spot with anything but an 0-3 record in the final matches of the season ... Atlantic 10 standings on page 2.
October has been a good month for UMass as the Minutemen have posted a 4-2-2 record - all league games ... over the last five season, UM is 36-7-4 in October and are 80-35-8 in the program's history.
Inside The Series
Last season, Duquense picked up a 2-1 win over UMass in Pittsburgh, while the Minutmen defeated St. Bonaventure 2-1 in overtime ... Richie Higa scored his only goal of the season against the Dukes, while Oral Bullen scored both goals against the Bonnies ... Damien Pottinger and Pat Dillon tallied the Duquesne goals ... Kevin Omokhua recorded SBU's lone score.
In the series with St. Bonaventure, UMass has won four straight and have never lost in Amherst posting a 7-0 record.
Against Duquesne, UM has posted a 2-1-2 record over the last five games and have a 3-0-2 home record versus the Dukes.
Kock Earns 150th UMass Victory
Head coach Sam Koch recorded his 150th UMass victory on Sunday with a 2-1 double overtime win at George Washington. In his 15th season, he has the most wins of any men's soccer coach in program history. Among active collegiate coaches, Koch ranks among the top-50 with 210 victories in his 20 seasons on the sideline.
Seniors To Be Honored On Sunday
The Minutemen will honor seniors Colin Burns (Newark, Del.) and Gabe Barnard (Williamsburg, Mass.) prior to Sunday's match against Duquesne.
Barnard has played in 26 career games recording three goals and one assist ... scored his first career goal against Maine on Sept. 22, 2002 ... his goal against Boston University (9/17) was the game winner ... a biochemistry major, he has been named to the UMass Athletic Director's Honor Roll as well as the Atlantic 10 Commissioner's Honor Roll.
Burns has played in 25 games during his career ... has posted a 1.75 goals against average ... has 81 career saves, two shutouts and nine victories in the net.
Tallied his first career assist earlier this year against Siena (9/17).
Earned A-10 Player of the Week honors after shutting out George Washington and Richmond in back-to-back games as a junior.
Higa Named A-10 Player Of The Week
Tallied three goals in wins over Dayton (10/15) and Xavier (10/17).
Scored second goal against Daytong giving UMass a 2-0 lead in an eventual 3-2 OT win.
Scored the opening goal and game-tying goal with 16 seconds remaining in regulation against Xavier.
Tallied six total points on three goals taking just three shots.
Now has four goals and one assist for nine points on the season ranking third on the team.
Dubbed `The Flyin' Hawaiin' by UMass student media, Higa was a member of the A-10 All-Rookie Team in 2003.
Offensive Balance
Of the 21 active players on the team, 14 have tallied an offensive point this season.
Oral Bullen and Rob Charest lead the team in goals with eight and six, respectively.
Nine players have scored goals and 13 players have posted assists.
Working Overtime
UMass has played in school-record eight overtime games this season posting a 5-1-2 record in those contests. Four of those games went into double overtime.
Only UMass, DePaul, Penn State and Siena have played in eight overtime games this season nationally. Dartmouth is just behind that trio with seven OT matches.
The NCAA record for OT games in a season is 11 set by Saint Louis last season (7-1-3 overtime record). The Billiken's only OT loss last season was to No. 21 Cincinnati. Overall SLU had a 15-4-3 overall record making the NCAA quarter-finals.
Billman Playing Well In Net
Nick Billman has played well in the net of late making three starts in the last four games.
• The sophomore had been splitting time with senior Colin Burns with the duo rotating every game.
Billman's numbers may not stand out in the league, but his defensive efforts and timely saves helped the Minutemen put together a three-game win streak prior to last weekend.
Pace Has Career Day At Richmond
Pace scored a career-high two goals in the Minutemen's comeback attempt at Richmond (10/8).
Both goals occured in the second half. His first goal came at 79:27 when his header to the right post found the back of the net. He went down in the box score again when he scored at 86:25 beating Eric Sciocchetti on a penalty kick.
Pace currently ranks third on the team with two goals, three assists and seven points.
Kitchell Makes First Goal Of 2004 A Big One
Junior Tim Kitchell's golden goal in the second overtime at George Washington was huge for the Minutemen as it gave UMass at 2-1 win. Here's a look at some of the other consequences from his shot.
...head coach Sam Koch picked up his 150th win.
...UMass earned its first A-10 win of the season.
...UMass earned its first road win of the season.
...UMass picked up it first win in five games (1-2-2).
...a UMass player other than Rob Charest scored a golden goal.
...the goal was the first of Kitchell's career who has played in 39 career games (mostly as a defender).
Charest Earns A-10 Player Of The Week
Sophomore Rob Charest earned Atlantic 10 Player of the Week honors for the week of Sept. 19-26 after leading UMass to its second overtime victory of the season with two goals, including the game winner, against New Hampshire.
Charest was also named the Dinn Brothers/UMass Athlete of the Week for his efforts.
In the Minutemen's 3-2 overtime victory against New Hampshire, Charest scored his second golden goal of the year. The goal, scored in the 99th minute of play, secured the third win of the season for UMass and was Charest's second goal of the game. In the 71st minute, Charest hit the equalizer to knot the score at 2-2 giving UMass the chance for the overtime victory. Against Hartford (9/14) Charest also scored twice including the game-winner in the 104th minute of play.
Burns Gets Offensive
Senior goalkeeper Colin Burns acheived a first for his collegiate soccer career when he placed his named in the offensive portion of the box score against Siena (9/14). Burns boomed a free kick nearly 65-yards allowing freshman Matty Lemire to set-up Oral Bullen's third goal of the season. Burns tallied the first assist of his career on the play.
Recapping The LA Salle Loss
Sophomore Nick Billman made a career-high 10 saves in goal for the Minutemen, but it was not enough as La Salle scored two second-half goals shuting out UMass 2-0.
The loss snapped a four-game win streak for UM.
Ralph Pace received a red card with 8:19 remaining in the first half allowing the Explorers to play the rest of the game a man up ... the first half was an evenly matched game with the teams going into the break scoreless..
La Salle's Ryan Moseley scored the first goal of the game when Dusan Vujovic's shot was blocked ... Moseley was there for the rebound and fired a shot pass a diving Billman.
The Explorers held on to the 1-0 lead until the 84th minute of the game when Ryan Dougherty added to the lead for his fourth goal of the season.
Scouting The Bonnies
St. Bonaventure has split the last four games posting wins against Richmond and St. Joseph's, but falling at home to George Washington and on the road at Temple.
Andy Garcia leads SBU with four goals and 10 assists for 18 points ... Konrad Poszkowski leads the team with five goals with Kevin Omokhua adding four.
Jon Lopez earned the A-10 Rookie of the Week award after scoring two goals, including the game-winner, on Oct. 22 against St. Joseph's, leading the Bonnies to 3-0 shutout of the Hawks ... Lopez ranks fourth on the team with three goals .
Sean Eyde has spent the most time in goal for SBU starting 13-of-15 games ... he has posted 1.43 goals against average making 63 saves.
Scouting The Dukes
Duquesne saw a four-game win streak broken last weekend at St. Joseph's, but bounced back with a win at Temple on Sunday.
Four players have tallied three-or-more goals this season ... Noah Salsi leads the team with four goals.
Zach Varga has allowed only 12 goals this season for a 0.91 goals against average which is tops in the A-10 ... the Dukes have been stingy defensivey as Varga has only needed to make 25 saves on the year ... DU opponents have only been allowed 95 total shots this season ... with a 9-4 record, Varga has also recorded four shutouts.
The Dukes have been slow starters this season posting only five first half goals, but a staggering 15 second half tallies.
Duquesne took hold of the league's top spot with its 2-0 shutout of Temple on Sunday ... the Dukes entered last weekend ranked eighth in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Middle Atlantic rankings.
The Rudd Field Advantage
Since its opening at the start of the 2002 season, Rudd Field has become one of the top home-field advantages in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Minutemen have posted a 15-6-2 mark (.700 winning percentage), including a 7-1-1 mark in 2003. In that span, UMass has outscored its foes 62-32 in the 23 games at home, including 21-5 in 2003. UMass posted five shutouts at Rudd Field in 2003 and have seven since the opening of the complex.
Monthly Success
Koch certainly finds the month of October to his liking. In fact, the Minutemen saw a 22-game October unbeaten streak come to an end when Xavier defeated the Minutemen on October 10. The streak spanned back to Oct. 20, 2000, when Dayton defeated UMass, 3-1. Over the last five years, the Minutemen are 36-8-4 (.811 winning percentage) in the month of October.
The Captains
Koch has named senior Colin Burns and juniors Craig Canavan and Oral Bullen as the captains this season.
Burns is a fifth-year senior that has recovered fully from a serious head injury during his freshman year. He is coming off a solid season as the UMass goalkeeper last season and will be counted on again this season.
Canavan is perhaps the most seasoned Minuteman. He spent five years in the United States Navy before joining the Minutemen last year. He is 28 years old and played for two seasons at New Hampshire before heading to the Navy.
Oral Bullen figures to be UMass' top offensive threat. He is the leading returning scorer with 20 points (8 g, 4 a).
Atlantic 10 Success
Sam Koch has had most of his success come against Atlantic 10 opponents. During his 13 years at UMass, Koch has posted a 79-39-10 record (.659 winning percentage) against Atlantic 10 opposition, and has a winning record against every team but one, Rhode Island. Against out-of-conference foes, Koch is 66-50-10 (.551 winning percentage).
A Look Back At 2003
UMass finished last season with an 11-7-1 record, its fifth straight 10-win season. It marks the longest successive 10-win streak in school history.
Three Minutemen, all seniors, were named to All-Atlantic 10 teams. Ptah Myers was a first-team selection, while Dan Colwell and Devlin Barnes were second-team honorees.
UMass recorded its best start in school history after 10 games at 7-2-1 and reached the program's highest national ranking ever, No. 13, on Oct. 6, 2003.
Young Guns
The Minutemen have one of the youngest rosters in the country. Only two seniors, Gabe Barnard and Colin Burns, dot the roster. All told, there are 17 freshmen and sophomores on the squad.
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