Houapeu Scoring But UMBC Soccer Trying to 'Toughen Up'

UMBC forward Levi Houapeu sat despondent in the visitor's locker room in Stony Brook, N.Y.,  last November, reeling from an America East Conference championship game loss after a season that began with nine straight wins.

The loss visibly shook the nation's top scorer in 2009 (15 goals and 13 assists), but Houapeu was sure of one thing: He wouldn't be leaving the Retrievers for the professional ranks, despite his stock never being higher.

So when major league soccer's Portland Timbers came calling this summer, it wasn't hard for Houapeu to say thanks, but no thanks.

"One of the reasons I came back is because I love playing for coach [Pete] Caringi and coach [Anthony] Adams," Houapeu said a few days after scoring his seventh goal of the season in a 2-1 loss to Farleigh Dickinson.

Caringi and the Retrievers love having Houapeu play for them. Now a senior, he has become the Retrievers' leader on the field.

"He's grown into that," Caringi said. "Last year he really broke out of his shell."

The team is 4-3-1, but Houapeu said the team is playing better soccer than last season. Caringi agreed and said a tougher schedule is partially to blame for the record.

"Last year was just a dream start," Caringi said. After the 9-0 beginning, the Retrievers stumbled down the stretch before winning their first two games in the America East Conference Tournament.

Caringi said those struggles, especially on the road, made him decide to "toughen up" his team by challenging them early on in the schedule with five of eight games on the road, some against 2009 NCAA College Cup participants Loyola and Wofford. Penn State and Bucknell loom in the coming weeks.

The result has been a less impressive start to 2010. Houapeu has a simple explanation for the difference.

"Every single mistake we have made, we've been punished for it," he said.

The team's margin for error has decreased this season. While Houapeu has scored seven goals in eight games, fellow forward Andrew Bulls has scored just once after finishing second to Houapeu in the nation last year with 15 goals and 11 assists.

Bulls is still trying to fight his way out of a late-season slump in 2009 that came after teams began keying on the junior, who scored 14 goals in his first 11 games. He leads the team in shots with 36--that's 12 more than Houapeu's 24--but has just nine points (one goal, seven assists) to show for his aggressive play.

Houapeu and freshman Pete Caringi III, who is coach Caringi's son, have picked up some of that slack. The younger Caringi has scored five times this season, second-best on the team.

Coach Caringi said despite the numbers, Bulls is playing well. He said it is the nature of being a striker that a player is judged upon goals scored, but that doesn't give a complete picture of a player.

"I've seen him play some good games and not get [a goal]," he said. "I think it's only natural to be frustrated. He was considered the best forward in the conference.

"Other teams are much more aware of both of them. Teams are not going to let Andrew and Levi beat them."

Without Bulls scoring, an already struggling defense has been forced to play without the comfort of knowing it has two forwards who are capable of scoring at any time.

Not that the Retrievers have slipped that mightily: They are ranked 24th out of 201 NCAA Division I teams in scoring offense. They were the fifth-best scoring team in the nation last season.

"Most teams have problems scoring goals," Caringi said. "But we're the complete opposite. A lot of it is just mental mistakes [on defense]."

Early season injuries haven't helped. John Paul Waraksa, a four-year starter at midfield, has missed half of UMBC's games this season with a knee injury. Another starter at midfield, Sean Rothe, hasn't played a single minute in 2009 after starting 37 consecutive games for the Retrievers.

But Caringi knows the success of his team starts with the offense, specifically Houapeu and Bulls. If Bulls can start finding the back of the net as he did last season, Caringi thinks it could impact the play of the entire team.

"I'm sure it's the kind of thing that can make the whole team wake up," he said.