UMBC at Mt. St. Mary's Notes, April 12, 2016

The UMBC men's lacrosse team opens a week's worth of travel on Tuesday, April 12, when they make the 45-minute drive to Emmitsburg, Maryland and face the Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers. The opening face-off is slated for 7:00 p.m.

Live video and 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

Visiting Harford (7-4, 3-1 America East) scored the final three goals of the second quarter to take control and went on to defeat the UMBC Retrievers, 10-4, in an America East Conference affair played in winter-like conditions at UMBC Stadium on Saturday.

Hartford, which entered the game as the top face-off squad in the nation, continued their dominance, as the Hawks won 14 of 17 draws, including all eight in the pivotal second quarter. After scoring a season-high 13 goals at Lafayette on April 2, UMBC was held to a season-low four scores. The four goals also represented the lowest figure a Retriever team has mounted in 15 meetings versus the Hawks.

UMBC seniors Nate Lewnes and Jack Gannon scored two goals each for the hosts. Lewnes continued his scoring spree since returning from illness five games ago as he has amassed 22 points in those five contests.

UMBC junior netminder Ruston Souder (2-2) turned aside 10 Hawk efforts in 60 minutes of action, while freshman attackman Jack Andrews added two helpers on the day.

Junior attackman Max Maxwell added three assists and now has 50 career helpers in 36 games. He is just the 18th player in school history to amass 50 assists.

Lewnes did have his consecutive hat-trick streak snapped at three. He has registered 12 career games with three or more goals and has scored 94 times in 49 career outings. His six-goal, seven-point effort, recorded versus Stony Brook on March 26, is one shy of his career best seven-goal, eight-point effort at Vermont in April of 2014.

Lewnes has moved into 15th place on UMBC's all-time goals list and tied for 20th with 118 career points. Despite having played only six games, he leads UMBC with 18 goals and 23 points. Junior Max Maxwell, who was held off the scoreboard for the first time this season, is second with 22 points (8g, 14a). Senior defender Zach Esser is 20th in the nation with 1.56 caused turnovers per game and his 70 CT's are second all-time to Mike Camardo, '10 (87). Esser also surpassed 100 ground balls in his career (101) with a pair versus Hartford.  

Head Coach Don Zimmerman is coaching his 23rd season at UMBC and his 30th as a collegiate head coach. Amongst Division I head coaches, the Retriever mentor stood eighth with 233 victories and is 17th in winning percentage at .591 entering the 2016 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.

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:             235-168 (30th season)

at UMBC:                      162-153 (23rd season)

MOUNTAINEER UPDATE

Despite a 15-10 loss at Bucknell on Friday, Mount St. Mary's (5-4) has won four of its last six games. In their previous contest, the Mount exploded for a season-best 19 goals in a 19-16 shoot-out victory at Sacred Heart.

Against the Bison, freshman attackman Chris DiPretoro notched a career-high six goals and the Mountaineers held a 10-8 win midway through the third quarter, but Bucknell scored the final seven goals of the game to rally for the win.

DiPretoro leads the squad with 20 goals on the campaign, while senior grad student linemate Mark Hojnoski is the team leader in points with 30 (18g, 12a).

The Mountaineers have turned the ball over 24 times less times and have forced 30 more miscues than their foes.

THE SERIES

UMBC has won all 22 meetings versus the Mount, in a series that resumed after a nine-year hiatus in 2013. 

Last season, Gannon led a balanced UMBC attack with three goals and one assist as the host Retrievers defeated Mount St. Mary's, 11-8, at UMBC Stadium on March 24. Lewnes added two goals for UMBC and Souder collected 11 saves.

In the last meeting in Emmitsburg, Nate Lewnes scored five times and Max Maxwell added a pair of goals and three assists for UMBC in a 17-7 Retriever victory on March 22, 2014.  Lewnes has tallied eight goals in three career contests versus the Mount.

UP NEXT

UMBC travels to Burlington, Vermont for a Saturday afternoon 1:00 p.m. date at Vermont.