Wes DiRito
made 12 saves to key the win over Binghamton. |
BALTIMORE- UMBC freshman midfielder Pat
Young scored his fourth goal with 1:18 remaining and the
host Retrievers outlasted Binghamton, 10-9, to clinch a berth in
the America East Tournament for the tenth consecutive year.
UMBC (6-7, 3-2 America East) has participated in the four-team
championship in all ten of its league campaigns. The Bearcats were
eliminated from tournament play and finish the season at 5-9,
1-4.
The 2013 America East Championship will open at LaValle Stadium
in Stony Brook, N.Y. UMBC will be the No. 3 seed and face No.
2 Hartford in the first semifinal game at 4:30 p.m. on
Thursday, May 2.
Young, who led the Retrievers with four scores, scored his third
game-winning goal of the season. He also recorded the game-winner
with less than three minutes remaining in a 13-12 win at Stony
Brook on April 13.
"It was a typical America East game-for our conference to have
five teams still in the hunt on the last week of the regular season
is pretty special," said head coach Don Zimmerman. "It's
Senior Day, it's emotional. It's always a little bit of a struggle
on Senior Day, but I am very proud of the team, the way they hung
in there, came back from several deficits and came back in the
end."
The game was tied on eight occasions, as the Retrievers trailed
by one goal six times and 8-6 late in the third quarter. The
Bearcats took the lone two-goal advantage of the game on a goal by
attackman Matt Springer with 18 seconds to play in the third
stanza. But UMBC snatched momentum back as senior
attackman/midfielder Joe
Lustgarten (Wading River, N.Y./Shoreham-Wading River)
netted a desperation shot with less than one second remaining in
the stanza.
Young knotted the game at 8-all 2:42 into the final quarter,
beating BU netminder Max Schefler low from 11 yards away. UMBC
would then take its first lead of the game, as senior middie Dave Brown
(Coopersburg, Pa./The Hill School) found Matt
Gregoire (Crofton, Md./South River) inside and the senior
attackman converted from close range with 8:55 remaining.
Binghamton's Emmett O'Hara brought his side back to even,
tallying with 3:29 remaining and the Bearcats won the ensuing draw.
But BU hit the side-netting on a shot with 1:52 to play and the
Retrievers cleared and called a time-out. Junior midfielder Conor
Finch (Westminster, Md./Boys' Latin) drove down the right
alley and dumped a pass back to Young, who stepped into a 10-yard
shot and it ticked the stick of Schefler before hitting the back of
the net.
UMBC won the next face-off and never allowed the Bearcats to
possess the ball in the final minute of play.
The Retrievers, now 39-13 in ten years of America East
Conference play, have never lost back-to-back conference contests.
UMBC improved to 22-4 at UMBC Stadium vs. AEC foes during the
regular year and to 8-0 vs. Binghamton on the friendly turf in
Baltimore.
Young and Springer each scored four times for their respective
teams. Lustgarten added two goals and an assist for UMBC, while
Gregoire recorded a pair of goals and now has 15 in league play in
2013.
Both goalkeepers excelled in the contest. UMBC
sophomore Wes DiRito (Odenton, Md./DeMatha) turned away
12 Binghamton shots, while Schefler also recorded 12 saves. The
Retrievers outshot the Bearcats, 35-27.
