Tribe Travels to Stony Brook

The College will face the Seawolves for the second straight season on Sept. 29 at 7 p.m.

09/28/07 3:00PM

Williamsburg - Unbeaten in its last three contests, the William and Mary men’s soccer team will hit the road for a contest against Stony Brook. The College will travel to Stony Brook, N.Y., to battle the Seawolves at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 29. W&M is 1-0-2 in its last three games, evening its season mark at 3-3-2 with a 1-0 victory over American on Sept. 25. The match with Stony Brook can be followed live over the Internet via GameTracker. Follow the link at TribeAthletics.com, and click launch GameTracker on the Stony Brook Web site.

For complete W&M men's soccer notes, click HERE.

Tribe News and Notes
- W&M has started five freshmen in each of its last five contests, going 2-1-2 over the stretch.

- Senior Ryan Overdevest and junior Doug McBride are the W&M captains for 2007.

- W&M improved to 30-6-2 all-time in home openers with its win over Elon. The Tribe is a perfect 4-0 under head coach Chris Norris in home openers.

- Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Andrew McAdams made his first collegiate start in the Tribe’s 3-1 win over Temple, finishing with three saves.

- Freshman Nathaniel Baako notched his first career assist against Dartmouth.

- Sophomore midfielder Jeremy Harris scored his first career goal in the 55th minute to propel the Tribe to a 1-0 win over Elon.

- Two former W&M players are currently playing professionally in Major League Soccer (MLS) and with a club in the Norway. Wade Barrett (1994-97) is in his second season with the Houston Dynamo, after captaining the club to the 2006 MLS Cup. He has earned 26 starts this season, assisting on two goals. The Dynamo currently lead the MLS Western Division and having already secured a playoff spot. Former All-American Adin Brown (1996-99) is the first-team goalkeeper for Aalesunds FK in Norway. Brown has five shutouts in 18 games for Aalesunds FK and even scored the last-minute equalizing header against defending champion Rosenborg in July. In total, over 28 former Tribe players have played pro soccer at some level.

- The Tribe is 12-7-9 all-time at Albert-Daly Field, including a perfect 2-0-1 mark this season.

- Juniors Nathan Belcher and Doug McBride were named to the Penn State Classic All-Tournament Team.

- Redshirt freshman Alan Koger, freshman Nathaniel Baako and junior Brock Jones were named to the ODU Stihl Soccer Classic All-Tournament Team.

Scouting Stony Brook
Stony Brook enters the Saturday night affair with the Tribe at 5-3 on the season, after notching a 4-1 win over Marist on Sept. 25. The Seawolves peppered the Red Fox goal with 27 shots in the match, including 16 on goal. SBU has been on a hot streak of late, winning five of its last six matches with the only loss in the sequence coming in overtime, 2-1, at Towson. The Seawolves also own victories over Hofstra (3-1), Columbia (2-1), Adelphi (2-0) and Niagara (2-1), while dropping its opening two games of the season to Big East foes Seton Hall (2-0) and Connecticut (3-0).

Michael Palacio leads the Seawolves in scoring after finding the back of the net twice in the win over Marist. Palacio has 13 points on four goals and five assist this season. A season ago, Palacio was named the America East Midfielder of the Year along with garnering first-team all-conference and second-team all-region accolades. Petar Rakovic, Mahamadou Simpara and Collin Geoghegan each have a pair of goals on the year for the Seawolves. Maurice Brown ranks second on the team with a pair of assists.

A pair of goalkeepers have seen time for Stony Brook in 2007. Dawid Ditrich has started six games and sports a goals against average of 0.99 to go along with a shutout and 14 saves. Rich Skoblicki has started a pair of contests for the Seawolves, including its victory over Marist. He has a GAA of 2.39 to go along with three saves.

Last season was the first-ever meeting between W&M and Stony Book with the Tribe tallying a 2-0 win in Williamsburg. Doug Ernst assisted on both goals as the Tribe out-shot the Seawolves, 17-9.

Down Right Defensive
W&M head coach Chris Norris tinkered with his defensive lineup over the opening part of the regular season, and if recent results are any indication, Norris has pushed the right buttons. The first change came prior to the ODU Stihl Soccer Classic moving redshirt freshman goalkeeper Andrew McAdams into the starting XI. The changes continued a week later as the fourth-year Tribe headman moved junior Brock Jones to center back in an attempt to solidify the backline prior to the North Carolina match.

The moves have paid dividends as W&M has posted a 2-1-2 mark to go along with a 0.73 goals against average in the five games since the initial change. In fact, over the Tribe’s last three matches, W&M has a GAA of 0.29, while blanking two of its last three opponents. The College shutout ACC foe North Carolina on the road on Sept. 19, before holding the nation’s No. 7-ranked scoring offense, Virginia Tech, to only one goal in 110 minutes of play.

To make the Tribe’s defensive strides more impressive is the influx of youth in the back third of the field. The W&M lineup not only sports a first-year goalkeeper in McAdams but also includes true freshmen Nick Orozco and Michael DiNuzzo in the back along with sophomore Roger Bothe. The trio of Orozco, DiNuzzo and Bothe have started every match this season for the Tribe.

Thomas Finding the Mark
With W&M limited at the forward position this season, the Tribe turned to sophomore Price Thomas to fill the void alongside blossoming redshirt freshmen striker Alan Koger. Thomas, who started 17 of 19 matches as a true freshman in the midfield, is starting to find his stride up top. In each of the Tribe’s last two games, the Charlottesville, Va., native has found the back of the net.

He pushed the Tribe out to a 1-0 lead in the opening three minutes of the game against No. 12 Virginia Tech. Thomas followed that performance by scoring the game-winner in the 71st minute of play against American. It marked the first career game-winner during Thomas’ brief career with the College.

Fit to be Tied
The Tribe turned impressive back-to-back efforts, garnering ties with Atlantic Coast Conference foes North Carolina and No. 12 Virginia Tech. The College shutout UNC on the strength of a stout Tribe defense and a penalty kick save by redshirt freshman Andrew McAdams in the second overtime period. Against the Hokies, the Tribe jumped out to the early lead on a goal by sophomore Price Thomas, before VT tied it early in the second off a corner kick goal. The W&M defense stiffened and held one of the countries top scoring offenses off the board for the remainder of the contest. McAdams finished with seven saves against Virginia Tech and 10 against the Tar Heels.

McAdams Garners CAA Rookie of the Week Honor
After helping the Tribe register a pair of ties against Atlantic Coast Conference foes North Carolina, 0-0, and No. 15 Virginia Tech, 1-1, redshirt freshman goalkeeper Andrew McAdams was named CAA Rookie of the Week on Sept. 24. McAdams became the first Tribe rookie to earn the CAA weekly honor since Brennan Wergley garnered the accolade in 2005.

In the Tribe’s 0-0 stalemate at North Carolina, McAdams tallied his first career shutout making 10 saves in just his third career start. The Palm Harbor, Fla., native came up with the biggest save of the game in the second overtime period. After W&M was whistled for a foul in the box, McAdams denied Scott Campbell’s penalty kick with a kick save in the 105th minute of play to preserve the shutout. His 10-save performance was the best by a W&M goalkeeper since Kris Rake had 10 stops against then-No. 1 Maryland on Sept. 22, 2004.

McAdams followed that performance with a seven-save effort allowing only one goal to the nation’s No. 7-ranked scoring offense in Virginia Tech. The Hokies came into the match averaging three goals a game over their five-match win streak, but could only muster a single score in a 110 minutes against the Tribe. For the week, McAdams finished with a goals against average of 0.41 against a pair of teams who have been in the national top-25 or receiving votes throughout the 2007 season.