Goals from Samy and Claycomb not enough in St. Mary's Loss

Anapolis, MD – The Saint Mary’s men’s soccer team opened the 2008 season with a 4-2 loss to the University of Maryland-Baltimore County in the Navy Invitational on a rainy Friday afternoon from the Naval Academy. Saint Mary’s got goals from Yousef Samy and Joe Claycomb (who played for the Seals U21 team this summer), but it wasn’t enough as UMBC's Andrew Gillis came off the bench to tally four points on a goal and two assists.

The Gaels took the pitch and put some early pressure on the UMBC Retrievers defense, as freshman Justin Grider and freshman Joel Fumia had good scoring opportunities within the first 20 minutes of the game. Unlike the Gaels, UMBC did not miss on their first two shot, as John Paul Waraksa fired a wide-open left-footed shot from the top of the into the right corner of the goal. Andrew Gillis set up the Waraksa goal in the 21st minute on a give-in-go from 18 yards out.

Gillis would set up the second UMBC goal, on a very similar play as the first goal. This time it was Levi Houapeu on the receiving end of the pass. Houapeu shot came from about 20 yards out and beat SMC goalkeeper Jason Badger to the upper left corner at the 34:12 mark. The Retrievers held the 2-0 lead into halftime.

Read the Full Story . . .

Other Notes:
Players from the San Francisco Seals will match up against The Santa Cruz Beach Soccer Club on Saturday, August 30 at 11am at the Main Beach in Santa Cruz in a Beach Soccer Exhibition Match.  More . . .

---