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University of Massachusets Athletics
Post-Game Notes
November 10, 2005 | Men's Soccer
Nov. 10, 2005
Nov. 10, 2005
Atlantic 10 Tournament First Round Notes:
Final - UMass 0, Rhode Island 2
No. 6 UMass (8-10-2) vs. No. 3 Rhode Island (12-7-1)
• Thursday's match was the first trip to the A-10 Tournament for UMass since the 2002 season. The Minutemen have qualified for the A-10 Tourney in nine of Sam Koch's 15 seasons as head coach. UMass is now 4-7-2 all-time in the tournament.
• The two New England rivals met earlier this season with URI winning its fifth consecutive game in the series. The last UMass win against the Rams was during the 2000 season. The two sides have now played four times in the conference tournament with URI winning all four matches.
• One of the longest running rivalries in UMass soccer history, this was the 49th meeting between the Minutemen and the Rams dating back to 1961.
• Senior co-captains Oral Bullen (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Ernie Billittier (Mundelein, Ill.) close out their UMass careers just as they started - with a trip to the A-10 tournament. They were the only players on the UMass roster to have played in a postseason game.
• Today's loss was the first for UMass in seven games ... The Minutemen used a six game undefeated streak to pull from a 12th-place ranking in the league standings three weeks ago to earning the sixth seed going 4-0-2 over the last six regular season games.
• Sophomore Doug Rappaport (Tucson, Ariz.) continued his streak of consecutive start with his 32nd appearance in the first-11 ... senior Oral Bullen played in his 75th career game today, while fellow senior Ernie Billittier played in his 67th.
• Bullen and sophomore Kenny Cook (Fairport, N.Y.) were named to the Atlantic 10 All-Conference Second Team prior to the start of the tournament. Also honored were redshirt freshman Zack Simmons (Durham, N.H.) who was named to the All-Rookie Team and Doug Rappaport who was named to the Academic All-Conference Team.