BALTIMORE- Junior attackman Joe
Lustgarten (Wading River,N.Y.) smashed a career highs with
five goals and eight total points, leading host UMBC to a 16-12
victory over Hartford in the America East Conference
opener for both squads.
The Retrievers improved to 3-4 overall with the victory, while
the defending league champions slid to 3-7.
Lustgarten had surpassed his previous single game previous top
totals of three goals and four points by the 6:27 mark of the
second quarter as contributed a point on five of UMBC's first seven
goals, scoring four times and helping on another. He is the first
Retriever to score eight points in a game since Ryan Smith had five
goals and three assists vs. Albany in the 2008
campaign.
Junior attackman Scott
Jones (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) added four goals and an
assist for UMBC, while sophomore attackman Matt
Gregoire (Crofton, Md./South River) added three goals
in his first start of the campaign.
Lustgarten was UMBC's America East Player of the Game,
while Hartford junior midfielder Jared Franze, who scored
three goals and added an assist for the Hawks, earned the honor for
the visitors.
UMBC never trailed as they took advantage of an early Hawk
non-releaseable penalty and scored a pair of man-up goals in a
46-second span. Lustgarten opened the scoring 4:31 into the game,
converting a feed from junior midfielder Nick
Doub (Annapolis, Md./St. Mary's), followed
by a Jones goal on a pass from junior
midfielder Scott
Hopmann (Annapolis, Md./St. Mary's).
The Retrievers built the lead to 5-0 after 15 minutes and 8-2 at
halftime.
The floodgates opened in the second half as each team scored six
times in the third quarter and when the Hawks started the fourth
quarter on a 3-0 run, they crept to within 14-11 with 8:47
remaining. But Gregoire broke the run, by putting a rebound past
Hawk goalkeeper Scott Bement 62 seconds later and Lustgarten scored
the Retrievers' fourth man-up goal of the night 58 seconds after
that to restore a five-goal margin at 16-11.
Hartford got one back on a goal by attackman Aiden Genik
with 5:44 to play, but Retriever junior goalkeeper Adam
Cohen (Arnold, Md./Severn) made four saves in the
final 2:42 to preserve the Retriever victory.
Hopmann added two goals and an assist for the victors,
while Hartford attackman Carter Bender shared scoring
honors for Hartford with three goals and one assist.
Cohen matched his career high, just recorded seven days ago vs.
Loyola, with 15 saves. Bement, who entered the game 4-0 vs. UMBC,
had 10 stops in the Hawk cage.
UMBC outshot Hartford, 38-36, and converted on 4-of-5
extra-man chances.
The win snapped a four-game losing streak by UMBC to their
conference foes and boosted their all-time record
vs. Hartford to 6-4.
The 16 goals scored by UMBC is a season high and the most since
opening the 2011 campaign with 16 goals at Presbyterian. The 28
goals scored by the two squads is the most in a UMBC contest since
a 15-13 loss at North Carolina in the 2009 NCAA
Tournament contest.
The Retrievers are now 19-3 at home at UMBC Stadium in America
East regular season contests.
UMBC travels to Towson for a Wednesday evening contest
vs. the Tigers, before heading north to take
on Vermont on April 7.
