Hindley

Looking ahead to tomorrow's game with the Sheffield club team from England was a potential problem for the Maryland Bays last night at Cedar Lane Park in Columbia.With American pride, the U.S. World Cup scouts and a huge crowd waiting in the wings, the game at hand against lowly Penn-Jersey could have been an afterthought.But coach Gary Hindley said he drilled his club on the importance of putting league play first, exhibition play a distant second."We don't get points in the standings for beating Sheffield, we get them for beating Penn-Jersey," Hindley said.

Maryland Bays coach Gary Hindley returned home to New Jersey last Saturday when the Bays beat the Penn-Jersey Spirit, 4-2.Now after a 50-day absence, the Bays return home to Cedar Lane Park in Columbia for tonight's game against the Spirit."

EWING, N.J. -- He's been back too many times for this to be a homecoming anymore.Now it's nothing different from any other business trip.Gary Hindley, coach of the Maryland Bays, made yet another return to Trenton State College, which he first attended and then coached at for a decade. This time, it was just another American Professional Soccer League game for Hindley, one he didn't want any part of losing.The Bays made Hindley's latest return venture a successful and record-setting one, holding off an aggressive charge from the outmatched Penn-Jersey Spirit for a 4-2 victory before 2,442 at steamy Lions Stadium.

Tonight's game in Trenton, N.J., will be a sort of homecoming for Maryland Bays coach Gary Hindley.The Neptune, N.J., native will return to his alma mater, Trenton State College, where he spent his glory days playing soccer for the Lions and where the Bays will take on the Penn-Jersey Spirit.Hindley, a four-year starter for the Lions, said, "I have fond memories from a lot of wins there."So do the Bays, from defeating the Spirit, 2-1, on May 4.But, Hindley said, this Penn-Jersey team isn't the same as the one the Bays faced earlier in the season.

Maryland Bays coach Gary Hindley says the difference between success and failure in the American Professional Soccer League often comes down to one factor: Can you win on the road?In a league where most road games are back-to-back, Saturday-Sunday jaunts, when sleep is kept to a minimum and much of the waking hours are spent in airports and buses, even the most conditioned athletes can falter.Two weeks ago the Bays did a weekend stint in Denver and San Francisco -- not only the farthest cities in the league but also two of the best teams -- and were lucky enough to come away with a split.

Maybe coach Gary Hindley needs to push his halftime pep talks up a few minutes. Or petition the American Professional Soccer League for shorter halves.Whatever, the Maryland Bays need to come up with an antidote for the final moments of the first half. This week's closing lapse proved decisive, as a goal in the final 10 seconds of the opening half sparked the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks to a 3-1 victory, the defending champion Bays' first loss in 18 games.The week before, a late first-half goal by Colorado had awakened the Bays (11-1)

It could be a title match. Last season, that's exactly what it was when the Maryland Bays played the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks for the championship of the American Professional Soccer League.But this season it is more, and it is less.It is just the first of four meetings between the teams that strangely find themselves members of the same Western Division in the newly designed league structure.Yet it is also the first meeting since that championship thriller that went to a shootout before the Bays finally prevailed, 1-0.And it is the game that will begin to answer the question of which team is better in 1991.

Maryland Bays and Baltimore Blast defender Joe Barger is a lot of different things to a lot of different people.For many female soccer fans in the Baltimore area, he's the perfect hunk (blond hair, blue eyes and boyish good looks).For the Bays, he's a defensive force and a workaholic.For the Blast, he's a role player who can intimidate the opposition.In the business world, he's a financial planning expert.In Baltimore County, he's a homeowner along with Blast forward Domenic Mobilio.To his parents and friends, he's the all-American boy who is almost too good to be true.

WASHINGTON -- The Maryland Bays stepped up in class yesterday, but they were no match for a highly skilled Catuense squad from the Brazilian first division.Catuense used an effective short passing game to strike down the listless Bays, 3-0, in an exhibition game before 4,815 at RFK Stadium.Catuense midfielder Luis Carlos scored two goals to lead the visitors, who outshot the Bays, 16-7.It was the first loss for coach Gary Hindley, who has guided the Bays to a 6-0 start in the American Professional Soccer League, a 2-0 exhibition victory over the Baltimore Blast and four preseason wins over collegiate competition.

Jean Harbor said yesterday that he is on a mission to play for the U.S. national team in the 1994 World Cup.The Maryland Bays scoring star said a misunderstanding by U.S. Soccer Federation officials has prevented him from getting a chance to make the squad."