UMBC women tie Albany in America East opener

BALTIMORE (Via UMBC) – UMBC women’s soccer’s junior forward Destinee Morris (La Plata, Md./La Plata) scored her second goal of the year 2:21 after Albany took a 1-0 lead, helping the Retrievers pick up a 1-1 double-overtime tie in their America East opener on Sunday afternoon at Retriever Soccer Park.

Albany’s Alexa Schneider struck in the 76th minute after carrying the ball down to the box, beating one UMBC back before slotting a shot in-between two more defenders and into the upper left corner of the net for her fourth goal of the season.

The equalizer came 2:21 later after Morris gathered a throw in and carried the ball to five yards outside of the box and drilled a shot off a defender’s back and into the upper right corner of the net to tie the score at one apiece.

The Retrievers move to 2-7-2 on the season and 0-0-1 in America East action, while Albany moves to 5-5-1 overall and 0-0-1 in the league.

The Retrievers wasted little time putting the pressure on the Albany defense. Senior forward Amanda Dailey (Freehold, N.J./Freehold Township) drilled a shot on net in the opening minutes and then gave Albany goalkeeper Alana Brennan a scare on a shot from a step outside the box that soared just above the crossbar.

UMBC had another great opportunity with less than six minutes remaining in the opening half as freshman midfielder Karen Aye (Columbia, Md./Howard) gathered a ball in the box and dropped a pass to sophomore midfielder Gabby Boehmer (Lebanon, Md./Cedar Crest), but Boehmer’s shot from six yards out flew wide of the net to keep the game scoreless.

The Retrievers finished the opening half with six shots, but would record just two shots the remainder of the contest, while the Great Danes tallied five shots in the first half, but exploded for 10 attempts in the second stanza and 22 shots overall.

After the two teams combined for three shots in the first overtime, Albany put the pressure on the Retrievers in the final 10 minutes of the match. The Great Danes recorded four corner kicks and five shots in the period, but were unable to come away with the game-winner. Nance finished the day with eight saves, while Brennan was forced to make one stop.

UP NEXT FOR THE RETRIEVERS: UMBC hits the road for America East action at UMass Lowell at 7 p.m. on Thursday Oct. 1.