Tribe Opens CAA Play at Home

W&M will host Hofstra on Oct. 5 at 7 p.m., before battling Northeastern on Oct. 7 at 1 p.m.

10/03/07 11:15AM

Williamsburg - The William and Mary men’s soccer team will open the Colonial Athletic Association portion of the schedule with home affairs against Hofstra and Northeastern on Oct. 5-7. It will be the start of the Tribe’s season-long four-match homestand. The Tribe will host Hofstra on Friday, Oct. 5, at 7 p.m., before welcoming Northeastern to Williamsburg on Sunday, Oct. 7, at 1 p.m.

For complete men's soccer notes, click HERE.

W&M Home Games Live Over the Internet
All nine W&M men’s soccer home matches will be broadcast live over Internet at TribeAthletics.com. Click on the Live Audio link at the top of the homepage or on the Listen Live link on the schedule page.

Tribe News and Notes
- W&M has started five freshmen in each of its last six contests, going 2-2-2 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. In games in which he starts, McAdams has a goals against average of 0.93.

- Five W&M player have garnered their first collegiate points in 2007. Redshirt freshman Alan Koger scored his first collegiate goal in the Tribe’s victory over Temple, while sophomore Jeremy Harris opened the season with his first marker against Elon. Most recently, junior Doug McBride scored his first career goal at Stony Brook. Reshirt freshman Andrew McAdams (assist vs. American) and freshman Nathanial Baako (assist vs. Dartmouth) tallied their first career points on assists this season.

- 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 Hofstra
Hofstra enters its Colonial Athletic Association opener with the Tribe at 1-4-2 on the year and will be well rested after a two-week break since its last contest. After being picked second in the CAA Preseason Poll, the Pride have struggled out the of the gates, tallying its lone victory, 4-3, in overtime over San Diego on Sept. 14. Hofstra is coming off its second tie of the season after playing to a 1-1 draw with Fairleigh Dickinson on Sept. 22.

The Pride and Tribe have one common opponent in Stony Brook. Both teams fell to the Seawovles on the road. Hofstra dropped a 3-1 affair on Sept. 7, while W&M fell to SBU, 2-1, in its most recent contest on Sept. 29. Hofstra is 0-3-1 on the road this season.

Johannes Grahn leads Hofstra in scoring with eight points and four goals on the season. Ray Hassett is second on the team in points with four on a goal and two assists. Rob Youhill tops the Pride in assists with three on the season. Tom Johansen has seen the majority of the action in goal for the Pride, starting six contests. He has a goals against average of 1.81 to go along with 30 saves.

Hofstra leads the all-time series with W&M at 4-2-1, which includes a 2-2-1 mark between the two schools in Williamsburg. The College will look for its first win over the Pride since 2002. Last season, Hofstra notched a 3-0 win over W&M in Hempstead, N.Y.

Scouting Northeastern
Northeastern enters the opening CAA weekend at 2-5 on the season and will meet Old Dominion to open the league slate on Friday night. The Huskies own a pair of 4-0 wins on the season over Maine and Columbia, but have dropped their last two matches, falling to Holy Cross and Massachusetts. The Huskies, like Hofstra, will be coming off a two-week hiatus prior to the start of the league slate.

Its been feast or famine for Northeastern in 2007. In both its victories, the Huskies scored four times, but in all five of its loss, they were shut out. Ahmed Talaat leads Northeastern in scoring with six points on three goals. Greg Kilkenny also has six points for the Huskies on a goal and a team-leading four assists. Padraig Tangney, Lewis Ehrlich, Matt Laning and Conrad Stefaek have also found the scoring column for Northeastern this season. Mahmoud Talaat has seen the majority of the minutes in goal for NU. He has a goals against average of 1.03 to go along with 25 saves in six starts.

W&M and Northeastern have played to draws in each of the first two meetings in the series. The two teams played to a 0-0 draw in Williamsburg during the 2005 season, before playing to a 1-1 stalemate in Boston last season. Brock Jones tallied the Tribe’s lone goal in the contest a season ago.

For Openers
The Tribe is 9-8-2 all-time in Colonial Athletic Association openers. The College is 5-2-3 when those league openers come at home. Last season, the Tribe defeated Drexel, 3-0, at Albert-Daly Field to open the home portion of the CAA slate.

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 2-2-2 mark to go along with a 0.93 goals against average in the six games since the initial change. In fact, over the Tribe’s last three matches, W&M has a GAA of 0.68, while registering two shutouts. 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 has 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 three games, the Charlottesville, Va., native has registered a point for the Tribe.

He pushed the Tribe out to a 1-0 lead in the opening three minutes of the game against current No. 9 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. At Stony Brook, he assisted on the Tribe’s lone score in the third minute of play, finding junior Doug McBride.

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 current No. 9 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.