Brother Act: It's playing at UMBC to rave reviews.
Dan Bulls is senior co-captain of the Retrievers soccer team. His brother Andrew, a freshman, is one of the team's top scorers. Together, the pair from Millersville have helped propel UMBC, 3-1-1 entering today's game at Towson (4 p.m.).
The Bulls brothers are the first siblings to start for Pete Caringi, the school's coach for 18 years. They play side by side as midfielders.
To their teammates, they are known simply as "Bulls" and "Baby Bulls."
"Their chemistry amazes me," Caringi said. "They read each other real well. Against Adelphi [a 3-2 double-overtime victory], Andrew scored the winner on a play that Dan had started."
Born four years apart, the Bulls brothers had never gotten to play organized soccer together. Until now.
"I've been waiting for this all my life," said Andrew Bulls (McDonogh).
As kids, they chased the ball in their backyard in Anne Arundel County.
"Sometimes we got carried away and hit the neighbor's house," said Dan Bulls (Old Mill). 'When that happened, we ran inside real fast."
Last week, when the brothers orchestrated the deciding goal in sudden death against Adelphi, it was too much for their mother to bear. Pat Bulls climbed out of the stands and jumped into the pile of players.
"Mama Bulls was in the thick of the victory celebration," Caringi said.
A polite tack
Play Navy in water polo and you lose. For years, that was so for Johns Hopkins, which played the Midshipmen on 30 straight occasions and was keelhauled every time.
Until Saturday.
When Hopkins defeated Navy, 9-8, it was the school's first victory in 18 years over a storied water polo team that made the NCAA Division I final four last year.
But you won't hear idle boasting by Hopkins players. Why? The Jays (3-5) play 11th-ranked Navy again tonight at 8 in Annapolis.
Besides, his charges have too much respect for the Mids (4-4) to gloat, Hopkins coach Ted Bresnahan said.
"These [Navy] guys are not paid to protect their pool; they are paid to protect their country," Bresnahan said. "So we're not going to rub their noses in anything."
Better at night
Salisbury's inaugural night football game at home had it all: a raucous crowd, a runaway victory and a milestone event for the 35-year-old program.
The 48-6 rout of Geneva College on Saturday was the Sea Gulls' 200th football victory. And it was played before more than 2,200 fans, many of whom had no choice but to sit on the visitors' side.
"The game felt big-time," Salisbury coach Sherman Wood said. "You could hear every voice, every cheer. Sounds seem to carry better at night."
Glitches? There were a few.
"Our punt returner, Zack Holbrook, fought the lights a little. He muffed a ball but recovered it," the coach said.
Then there were the pesky gnats that swarmed around the teams on the sidelines.
"One got caught in my eye," Wood said. "I ended up having to go to our trainer.
"Those gnats don't come out for day games."
Neither have so many fans.
Salisbury (2-0) hosts Christopher Newport (0-0) at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Cool under fire
Navy's 1-0 soccer victory Sunday over Virginia Military Institute gave goalie Lizzie Barnes her 23rd career victory, a school record.
"That's cool, but [the mark] really defines our whole defense," said Barnes, a senior who, teammates say, deflects praise as she does shots on goal. Navy (4-2-1) hosts Mount St. Mary's (0-7) at 7 p.m. Friday.
Barnes, who ranks in the top 5 percent of her class academically, believes her soccer acumen will help in her career as a surface warfare officer.
"You face pressure situations on and off the field," the New Orleans native said. The experience "definitely can carry over."
On the rise
Maryland and Loyola, which met in the 2007 NCAA playoffs, are again climbing the rankings ladder in men's soccer. The Terps (4-1) are No. 4 in this week's Division I poll and Loyola (5-0) is No. 17. The Greyhounds' lone defeat in the past 13 games was to Maryland last year in a contest decided by penalty kicks, 4-2.
Loyola hosts William & Mary at 5 p.m. today. Maryland entertains Duke on Friday at 8.