UMBC Parent Preview

The UMBC Department of Athletics has unveiled a new athletic logo, the fifth primary logo in its 40-plus years of intercollegiate competition.

A “family of logos” was developed by alum Jim Lord, ’99, the design director in UMBC’s Office of Creative Services. Ironically, one of Lord’s first tasks at UMBC was to complete work on the Retrievers’ outgoing logo in the spring of 2001.

The new logos may be used immediately and will be seen prominently in 2010-11, as UMBC Athletics celebrates its 25th year of NCAA Division I competition.

Lord started to think about a new design as the athletic program began to receive a tremendous amount of exposure when the men’s basketball team qualified for the NCAA Tournament in March 2008.

The UMBC men’s soccer team has garnered votes in three national preseason soccer rankings and has been tabbed as the second choice amongst America East Conference coaches in the league’s preseason poll.

UMBC was the only America East squad to earn votes in the NSCAA Division I national rankings and College Soccer News’ 2011 Pre-Season Top 30 poll. The NSCAA rankings included 25 teams, plus 14 teams which received votes, while CSN’s poll included 12 squads receiving votes.

Top Drawer Soccer just released its preseason Tournament 48 rankings and the Retrievers were listed at No. 40.

The Retrievers will face two squads in Maryland (No. 4, NSCAA, No. 8, CSN) and Penn State (No. 18, No. 20) that are in the preseason rankings. Louisville is the No. 1 team in both polls.

Seven-time America East champion Boston University is the America East coaches’ choice to become men’s soccer champions in 2011. The Terriers received five of seven possible first-place votes (coaches were not permitted to vote for their own team) for 47 points and narrowly edged out defending champion UMBC, which garnered the other three first-place tallies, and finished with 43 points.

The Retrievers opened the 2011 campaign at home on Sat., August 27 beating local rival Mount St. Mary’s. They are scheduled to take on Towson University on September 7.

The UMBC men’s soccer team (6-3-3. 3-0-0 AEC) returns home after a pair of 1-0 league road wins to entertain America East foe New Hampshire (5-6-1, 1-1-1) on Friday evening at Retriever Soccer Park. The contest will be televised live nationally by Fox Soccer Channel with Dave Johnson and Keith Tabatznik on the call. Kick-off time is set for 7:00 p.m.

AS OF LATE: UMBC extended its unbeaten streak to four with a 1-0 victory at Binghamton on Oct. 11. The Retrievers have posted three consecutive shutouts and now allowed a goal in 318 minutes of action. New Hampshire opened league play with an impressive 3-0 win over the Bearcats before drawing with Hartford, 1-1 also on Oct. 11.

The largest class in the history of the UMBC Athletic Hall of Fame will be inducted on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012.

The honorees are Dr. Charles Brown (Director of Athletics 1989-current), Jen Dragoni (women’s lacrosse, 2000-04), Brad Green (swimming & diving 2000-04), Adam Grossman (track & field 2002-06), Ted Lawler (men’s soccer 1994-98), Brendan Mundorf (men’s lacrosse 2002-06), Josef Novotny (men’s tennis, 2001-04), Keith Puryear (head tennis coach ,1990-2008), and Drew Westervelt (men’s lacrosse 2003-07).

There are now 121 members of the UMBC Athletic Hall of Fame, which was instituted in the 1970s. Candidates are nominated throughout the two-year period and are selected for induction by a committee of current Hall of Fame members based on their excellence in competition at UMBC and subsequent graduation from the university.

The18th induction dinner and ceremony will take place at the Westin Baltimore Washington Airport – BWI. The cost to attend the induction dinner is $60, which includes a ticket to the basketball doubleheader vs. Maine that afternoon (1:00 p.m./3:30 p.m.) at the RAC Arena. The new class of Hall of Famers will be introduced at halftime of the men’s 3:30 game. The dinner will begin at 7:00 p.m., with inductions to follow. Please contact Kevin Gibbons O’Neill at 410-455-1532 or oneillb@umbc.edu for additional information about the event or to purchase tickets.

Read more about the Inductees here.

Three UMBC swimming and diving athletes have qualified for their respective country’s Olympic Trials and will be attempting to join the national team for the 2012 Olympic Summer Games to be held in London, England.

Junior Mohamed Hussein (Cairo, Egypt/Victory College) has already made the Egyptian squad for the 100-meter freestyle and will swim again in May to attempt to qualify for more events. Recently Hussein broke Egypt’s national record in the 200 IM with a time of 2:05.49.

Attempting to make the South African team, junior Pierre De Waal (Pretoria, South Africa/Tuks Sport/Cleveland State) will fly back to his home country on April 13 for their Olympic Trials. De Waal will compete for a spot in the 100m, 200m, and 400m freestyle events, in addition to his best event, the 200m butterfly.

Perhaps the most unlikely contender comes from the United States of America. Two years after convincing Cradock to give him a walk-on spot at UMBC, sophomore Patrick Husson (Camp Springs, Md./DeMatha) has qualified for the US Olympic Trials for the 200m breaststroke, while missing the cut for the 100m breast event by less than one second. The time trial meet will be held in June with the top two swimmers, out of a field of over 100 athletes, making the cut for London.

Coming to UMBC in the fall of 2007, Husson was not recruited by any colleges while in high school. He came to Baltimore mainly for the academic possibilities at UMBC, but did not want to give up swimming. Talking to Cradock immediately at the start of his freshman year, Husson earned a one-month trial period to show the coaches he had what it takes to be on the Retriever squad. With no promises made, Husson worked for the month period, and in early October he was rewarded with what he coveted, a spot on the UMBC roster.

Watch WBAL News coverage.