Howard, UMBC Play To Scoreless Tie

By Elliott Jones

Final Stats

WASHINGTON DC, Sept. 28— Goalkeeper Jason Williams recorded his first shutout of the season as Howard University and the University of Maryland at Baltimore County played to a 0-0 draw at Greene Stadium.  Although the Bison (0-6-1) still remain scoreless on the year,  they avoided a loss for the first time in seven games.  The Retrievers (4-3-2) out-shot Howard, 25-7, but only five of UMBC’s shots forced Williams into saves and that was enough to earn the Bison a draw.  Retrievers’ goalkeeper Steve King did not record any saves.

            UMBC controlled play for most of the first half, in which Howard was only able to muster one shot.  In the 40^th minute, a scuffle between players seemed to energize the home crowd, and as a result, the Bison soccer team as well.  No cards were issued.  Howard began moving the ball with more purpose after the break and held much more possession of the ball than in any half of any match so far this season.

            That’s when the game got even rougher, as three Howard players and one UMBC player received yellow cards for conduct and hard fouls after the half.  Howard fed off this emotion and produced one the best scoring chances of the game, a shot from 10 yards out which junior Emile Innocent rocketed over the crossbar. 

Regulation ended at 0-0, and the Retrievers set out to dominate the majority of both overtime periods.  Howard almost snatched an improbable victory when UMBC defender Matt McGown headed a pass back to his goalkeeper, only for the ball to narrowly miss the left goalpost with only 18 seconds left in the final overtime period. 

Alas, the ball bounced cruelly out of bounds and left Howard searching for their first goal and victory of the season.

            Up next for the Bison is their Atlantic Soccer Conference opener against New Jersey Institute of Technology on Saturday.  The match kicks off at Greene Stadium at 2 p.m.

  UMBC 0, Howard 0

                       1^st        2^nd       OT       F
UMBC              0           0          0          0
Howard           0           0          0          0

SHOTS:  UMBC 25, HU 7

  SAVES: 

HU 5, UMBC 0      

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