The UMBC men's lacrosse team will make the short trip across the beltway to take on the 11th-ranked Towson Tigers on Saturday, March 5. The opening face-off is slated for noon at Johnny Unitas Stadium.
The contest will be the first broadcast this spring by the Retrievers' flagship, Q1370 (www.q1370.com) with Gary Stein on the call. Live video and live stats will be available via www.umbcretrievers.com and fans can also follow via the men's lacrosse program's Twitter feed (UMBC_MLacrosse). Access is also available via UMBC Front Row, UMBC Athletics' mobile website.
UMBC UPDATE: Host Ohio State (3-1) took control midway through the second quarter, holding UMBC (0-2) scoreless for nearly 27 minutes and defeating the Retrievers, 12-7, at legendary Ohio Stadium on Feb. 26.
Three local freshmen led the Retriever attack, as midfielder Billy Nolan (Arundel) tallied two goals and one assist, attackman Pat Brennan (Chesapeake) posted a goal and two helpers and middie Pat Clipp (Marriotts Ridge) recorded a pair of goals.
For the first time in his UMBC career, senior attackman Nate Lewnes (St. Mary's) did not see action. Lewnes, who started all 44 games in his tenure and has 99 career points, missed the contest due to illness.
UMBC junior netminder Connor Gordon made seven of his eight saves in the first half. The Buckeyes outshot the Retrievers, 41-16, and captured 14 of 23 draws.
Nolan (3g, 1a) and junior attackman Max Maxwell (2g, 2a) lead UMBC in the early going. Seven of the Retrievers' 12 goals have been scored by freshmen.
Gordon has seen all 120 minutes of action in the UMBC cage and has made 20 stops, allowing 19 goals.
Five starters and 25 letterwinners return from the 2015 squad. 27 of UMBC's 41 players are freshmen or sophomores.
UMBC's scheduled 2016 opener versus Johns Hopkins on Feb. 13 was postponed and will now be played on Wednesday, March 30. The opening face-off at UMBC Stadium is slated for 7:00 p.m. The contests at Ohio State (Fri., Feb. 26, 5 p.m.) and Mount St. Mary's (Tues., Apr. 12, 7 p.m.) have also been altered.
UMBC, which finished the 2015 season at 5-8 and 1-5 in America East, did not qualify for the America East Tournament for the first time in 12 league seasons. The Retrievers suffered a pair of one-goal losses in back-to-back weeks, as they fell, 9-8, in overtime at Hartford on April 4, then saw a five-goal second half lead slip away in an 11-10 setback to Vermont on April 11.
UMBC selected seniors Zach Esser and Nate Lewnes as their team captains for the 2015-16 academic year. Esser is the first UMBC defenseman to earn back-to-back America East First Team honors. Lewnes, an attackman, entered the 2016 campaign with 98 career points, and needs just one more to become the 33rd Retriever to reach the 100-point plateau.
Lewnes, who led UMBC with 31 goals in 2015, reached the 30-goal plateau for the second consecutive season, becoming just the sixth Retriever to accomplish that feat at the Division I level. He was just named to the 2016 Tewaaraton Award Watch List.
Five teams on the Retriever schedule were ranked in the USILA pre-season Top 20. Johns Hopkins (5th), Ohio State (11th) and Towson (16th) are ranked non-conference foes, while defending America East champion Albany (12th) and Stony Brook (20th) were also tabbed in the coaches' poll. Without playing a game, UMBC received votes in the Week 1 Cascade/Maverik media poll, while Richmond received votes in the USILA/Nike coaches' poll.
Head Coach Don Zimmerman enters his 23rd season at UMBC and his 30th as a collegiate head coach. Amongst Division I head coaches, the Retriever mentor stands eighth with 233 victories and is 17th in winning percentage at .591 entering the 2015 campaign. In the all-time coaching annuals of Division I lacrosse, Zimmerman is 26th in total victories.
Zimmerman piloted the Retrievers to four consecutive NCAA Division I tournament appearances from 2006-09, a feat accomplished for the first time in the school's Division I lacrosse history. In 2009, the Retrievers posted a 12-4 record and won their third America East title in four years. The previous season, UMBC set a new school record with 11 straight wins before a tough 10-9 loss at second-seeded Virginia in the first round of the NCAA Championships. UMBC climbed to a school-record ranking of No. 5 by the USILA in mid-April and was ranked No. 6 in the final poll.
Zimmerman was named America East Conference Coach of the Year by his colleagues in both 2008 and 2009. The Retriever mentor was the 2008 Coach of the Year in LaxPower men's lacrosse Fan Awards, he achieved career win No. 200 in 2010 and is 10th among active coaches with 202 victories in 24 campaigns.
He led UMBC to its first two NCAA Tournament appearances in 1998 and 1999.
Zimmerman's Records
Career Record: 233-163 (30th season)
at UMBC: 160-148 (23rd season)
Scouting the Tigers
The 11th-ranked Tigers bested local rival No. 5 Loyola, 10-8, Wednesday night at the Ridley Athletic Complex to improve to 4-0 on the season. Six different Tigers scored, including a five-point day from junior attackman Joe Seider (4g, 1a). Linemate Ryan Drenner had three assists and has 10 points in Towson's last two games.
Towson also has home victories over Mercer (11-2), Mt. St. Mary's (9-5) and No. 17 Georgetown (10-7).
Drenner leads the team with eight goals and eight assists, while Seider is the top goal-scorer with 10 tallies. In goal, senior Tyler White is allowing only 5.28 goals per game and maintains a save percentage of 66.7. The Tigers have won nearly 57 percent of their draws.
THE SERIES AND LAST YEAR'S MATCH-UP
Towson has won four consecutive games in the series and leads, 31-15 in all-time contests. Since 1970, the teams have met each year, except for 1986, and they faced off twice in 1979. The Retrievers had won four of five prior to the latest Tiger surge.
Last season, 14th-ranked Towson produced 4-0 scoring runs to start the game and the fourth quarter and defeated UMBC, 11-7, before 746 fans in the Retrievers' 2015 home opener on March 7. Jack Gannon and Max Maxwell added two goals apiece for the Retrievers.
Towson outshot UMBC, 43-22, and Retriever sophomore goalkeeper Connon Gordon made five of his 10 saves in the third quarter. The Tigers won 15 of 21 draws, including 8-of-9 in the second half. There was only one penalty called in the game and UMBC did not have an extra-man opportunity for the first time since a contest versus Stony Brook in April of 2011.
UP NEXT
UMBC returns home to face Marist on Sat., March 12. A noon face-off is slated for UMBC Stadium.
