UMBC gets home-field ECC advantage

UMBC grabbed the home-field advantage for this weekend's East Coast Conference soccer tournament by defeating SUNY-Buffalo, 3-1, yesterday in Catonsville.

The Retrievers, who are undefeated in the conference, took the ECC regular-season championship by getting goals from Darius Taylor and Rob Hoch 47 seconds apart midway through the second half.

The Bulls took the lead in the first half on a goal from Brian Hancher, but Rob Karas of UMBC tied it early in the second half on a penalty kick, his second of the year.

This Saturday, UMBC (15-4-1, 5-0-1) will host Rider (9-5-2, 2-2-2) and Towson State (12-4-2, 3-1-2) will play Buffalo (10-6-2, 3-2-1) in the other semifinal.