Q&A with UMBC Athlete Andrew Bulls

This weekend the UMBC men’s soccer team will host the University of Hartford in the quarterfinals of the America East Tournament as they continue their quest to repeat as conference championship and to make to their third-straight championship game.

Helping to lead the way once again is Andrew Bulls, a midfielder and striker who received his third straight first team all-conference honors this week.  This season Bulls led the team with five goals to go with two assists as he finished second on the team his 12 points.  His 96 career points ranks fourth all-time while he is the first Retriever to have at least 30 goals and 30 assists in a career and his 30 assists are an all-time school record.

Patch: The team has struggled heading into the tournament but you personally have been in this situation before, two years ago when you made it to the conference finals.  What messages are you spreading to the rest of the team are the key to turning around for the tournament?

Andrew Bulls:  I like to think of the season as three parts; there is the beginning of the season, there’s the conference season, and then there is the post conference season and that’s the playoffs.  The message I’ve been trying to teach to the guys is that everybody starts clear and it’s more of a tournament style rather than trying to get a certain amount of wins or trying to get a draw or we have this mentality that we need to go in and play a certain way but now that we’re in the playoffs it’s win or go home.  Everyone starts brand new.  It’s whoever starts playing well in November is the team that gets to the national finals and I’m just trying to tell the new guys to start fresh and don’t worry about what happened in the past or in conference … just focus on each game for what it is and really focus on moving on that what individually we need to do.

Patch:  Over the last three years the culture of the team has really changed and anything but a championship has been deemed as a failure.  How true do you still find this?

Bulls:  When I first came here it was a let down and we didn’t even make the playoffs.  Ever since then there was a group of guys who wanted to change the standard for UMBC and it really put UMBC to a new type of requirement and anything less than getting to a championship is a real let down and it didn’t used to be like that in years past but that’s just a credit to the guys who have been here and what we tried to accomplished a few years ago.  We’re going to do everything that we can to get back to that championship game and get another win and regain our title.

Patch:  Before you can focus on anything else you have Hartford in the first round this Saturday and they beat you pretty badly in your last meeting.  What changes do you think you and the team have to make in your approach this time?

Bulls:  When we went up there at Hartford I think we were just a little undisciplined.  I think that we let the emotions get the best of us and we were already up at 4-0 and we felt that we had to be 5-0 and had all this pressure but I don’t think the case coming down here to Baltimore.  We’re been very good on our home field and it’s really tough to beat us there and I think when we’re back home and we’re not so emotionally wound up and we’re playing to win I think we’ll be a lot more disciplined, I think that we’ll execute our game plan a lot better and I think that we’ll be more comfortable and play a lot stronger.

Patch:  Clearly, a lot of your attention has been paid to soccer, especially this time of the year.  When you’re not playing soccer what is your favorite activity?

Bulls:  I like music a lot.  I’m really into music.  When I’m not playing soccer I’m listening to music, downloading music, I like to DJ a lot at local parties.  I love staying with house music, I love Frank Sinatra,  I love country, I love it all and music really gets me in a good mood so when I’m not playing soccer I winds down a little and music helps me mellow out and when I’m getting ready for a game I use it to motivate me and it’s always been there for me.

Patch:  You’re in charge of picking the team’s warm up music too.  Is there any song or genre that pumps your up more than anything else?

Bulls: No music in particular.  I like to change it up a lot.  House music really gets me motivated but it’s different all the time.

Patch:  What is your favorite professional soccer team?

Bulls:  My favorite team is Arsenal from London, England.

Patch:  Is there any particular player that you try to emulate your game after?

Bulls:  Thierry Henry is my idol.  I never saw him play and I always saw him on TV when I was growing up and I actually got to see him play against D.C. United when he transferred over to the Red Bulls and he scored twice.  I couldn’t tell you the feeling of seeing him actually put the ball in the net in real life rather than on TV.  He’s just a player I’ve always watched and when I was a kid I always thought I could play like him and sometimes people say I do and we run the same way but he’s just somebody I’ve always followed.

Patch:  While you still have time left in your college soccer career what has been your most fond memory up to this point?

Bulls:  My fondest memory was my freshman year playing with my brother [Daniel Bulls].  Regardless of the season and how it went I never got a chance to play with my brother before and that was something that motivated me to come to UMBC.  That’s something I’ll always remember, being on the same team and just knock the ball around and be comfortable playing with somebody and playing with him because I was always his biggest fan.  He’s motivated me to do everything and he was somebody I really wanted to play with.  That’s one of the memories I’ll always carry with me.  He made my experience here what it is because he set me up for the next three years.  I give a lot of credit to him.

Patch:  What does it mean to you to be UMBC’s all-time leader in assists?

Bulls:  The guy before me, James Hamilton, has been somebody I looked up to and he had this record before.  When you’re at a school you want to leave your mark and want to leave your legacy anyway you can and I want to have that feeling that somebody wants to been your record.  Once it started I was just playing the game I play and I’ve always been a distributed and a provider and once it got up there and once I found out I got the assist record it’s a great feeling but I want people to be motivated to beat that.  I want kids to come in here thinking they can do something like that.  That was my main goal; to set a standard for somebody to be motivated to beat it and I can’t wait to see somebody exceed that record.

Patch:  You’ve had a Mohawk, designs in your hair, and everything in between.  Are you planning on breaking out any new looks for the tournament?

Bulls:  I’ve always tried to switch it up and I’ve always looked at other players and try to emulate what they have.  You’ll be excited to see what I have for Saturday.