BALTIMORE- UMBC junior attackman Scott
Jones (Port CoquiItlam, B.C.) capped a miraculous rally
with a goal at the 1:43 mark of overtime and the Retrievers
edged Albany, 17-16, at UMBC Stadium.
With the victory, UMBC (5-6, 3-1 America East) clinched a spot
in the America East four-team playoffs for the ninth time in nine
conference seasons. Albany, also assured of a berth in the
championships, fell to 3-9, 3-1.
The Retrievers trailed the Great Danes, 16-11, in the wild
affair with under six minutes remaining in regulation. But UMBC
reeled off five goals in a span of 2:18 and tied the score on a
goal by junior midfielder Dave
Brown (Coopersburg, Pa.) with 2:57 remaining, setting
the stage for Jones' heroics.
"I saw this team grow up," head coach Don
Zimmerman said. "That's a very good team that we
just played out there. We have been waiting and waiting
and waiting for it to kick in and I thought we kicked into gear and
came of age."
Jones, UMBC's America East Player of the Game, and sophomore
attackman Matt
Gregoire(Crofton, Md./South River) scored four goals each to
lead UMBC. Three Great Danes- senior attackman Joe Resetarits, and
sophomore attackmen Miles and Ty Thompson- scored four goals each,
with Resetarits leading all scores with seven total points.
Sophomore face-off specialist Phil
Poe (Harwood, Md./DeMatha) tied a school record by
winning 22 face-offs. Poe attempted all 37 draws on the day and won
9-of-11 in the fourth quarter.
Miles Thompson finished a fast break on a pass from Ty Thompson
with 6:07 remaining in the fourth quarter to give the visitors a
five-goal bulge. UMBC responded with on a goal by junior
midfielder Scott
Hopmann (Annapolis, Md./St. Mary's) with 5:15 to
play and the Retrievers got an extra surge when Poe controlled the
draw and scored eight seconds later to trim the deficit to
16-13.
After a holding call on Albany, Hopmann scored again, just
34 seconds after the 13th goal, and after Gregoire
turned the corner and scored with 3:29 remaining, the Retrievers
were within a goal. Poe beat UA long-stick Doug Eich on the draw
and Brown fired a high blazer past Dane netminder Max Huber with
2:57 remaining to tie the score for the first time since it was
even at 6-all.
Both teams had one offensive possession in the final moments of
regulation, but could not score. Albany won the opening
draw in overtime, but a Lyle Thompson shot sailed over the goal and
possession went over to the Retrievers. Playing on Senior Day,
senior midfielderRob
Grimm (Black River, N.Y.) fed Jones on the left wing ,and
the Retrievers leading scorer dipped inside his defender and
bounced a shot past Huber, setting off a wild celebration by the
Retrievers.
The 17 goals scored by UMBC was its most since a 17-10 win
over Rutgers in 2009. The 33 goals combined by the two
squads was the most in a Retriever contest since an 18-15 loss
atTowson early in the 1998 campaign.
Grimm, junior attackman Joe
Lustgarten (Wading River, N.Y.) and freshman
midfielderDerek
Bertolini (Madison, Conn.) each had three assists for
UMBC. Grimm and Bertolini added a goal piece to finish with
four-point efforts. Hopmann and sophomore midfielder Zach
Linkous (Jarrettsville, Md./St.Paul's) scored two goals
each for the hosts.
UMBC led only once before scoring the game-winning goal, scoring
three consecutive first quarter goals after Albany had
taken a quick 2-0 advantage. Albany led, 5-3, after one
quarter, and 6-3 early in the second stanza before the Retrievers
evened the affair on Grimm's lone tally of the day on a man-up
situation with 9:23 to play in the half.
But the Danes ended the first half of 3-0 run,
punctuated by a Resetarits score from in front of the cage with six
seconds to play in the half to give the guests a 9-6 halftime
edge.
The Retrievers outscored UA, 4-3, in the third quarter and got
as close as 12-10 before the Danes stretched out the margin to five
goals.
Both teams had 37 shots in the game. Huber made nine saves
for Albany, while UMBC junior netminder Adam
Cohen (Arnold, Md./Severn) had a season-low six saves
for his side. But Cohen made three key fourth quarter saves to
allow the Retrievers to complete the rally.
UMBC hit on 3-of-4 man-up chances, while UA was 1-for-1.
The Retrievers, who fell to Stony Brook last Saturday, have
never lost back-to-back games in 46 America East regular season
games. UMBC is 16-6 in Zimmerman's tenure in overtime games.
Jones has scored 17 goals in his last five outings and became
the first Retrievers since Alex Hopmann (36) in 2009 to
reach the 30-goal plateau with 31 scores.
The four goals were a career-high for Gregoire, who has 11 goals
in his five starts in 2012.
UMBC completes the regular season at Binghamton on
April 28.
