The History of UMBC Athletics (1966-2023)

Here are highlights of six decades of Retriever athletics in a timeline form

Photo Gallery 

1960's

October 30, 1966

-A dedication ceremony for naming "Sam", the first official UMBC Retriever mascot, is held.

November 4, 1966

-The men's soccer team plays the first intercollegiate game in school history and earns high praise despite a 4-1 loss to Maryland.

November 18, 1967

-The men's basketball team plays its first varsity contest after a year on the club level, dropping a 73-63 verdict to Catonsville CC. The team would finish its first season at 4-7.

January 9, 1968

-Men's basketball wins its first intercollegiate game, an 84-75 triumph over Eastern College of Commerce.

1970's 

September 1970

-UMBC is officially accepted into its first athletic conference, the Mason Dixon Athletic Conference. UMBC would remain members of the MDAC through 1978 and again from 1983-86.

April 13, 1974

-Mel Hammell pitches the first no-hitter in school history, a 20-0 win over Coppin State.

December 6, 1975

-The men's cross country team wins its first Mason Dixon title, capping a perfect 10-0 season.

February 6, 1977

-Men's basketball earns its first win over a Division I program, defeating Madison College (later James Madison Univ.), 82-80.  

November 1977

-The men's soccer team is invited to the 1977 NCAA Regionals, the first-such appearance by a UMBC team.

March 10, 1979

-UMBC draws 3,617 fans to an NCAA quarter-final game vs. Cheyney. The Retrievers fell, 65-62 to the John Cheney-coached team, but finished the year ranked sixth nationally in Division II.

1980's 

May 18, 1980

-The men's lacrosse team wins the NCAA Division II national title, defeating Adelphi, 23-14. The lacrosse program would compete at the Division I level in 1981.

May 22, 1985

-Karin Wagner finishes eighth in the 10,000 meters at the NCAA Division II nationals at UCLA. Earlier that spring, she finished 17^th in the Boston Marathon.

September 1986

-UMBC plays its first contest as a full-fledged NCAA Division I-AAA member, as the men's soccer team defeats Randolph-Macon, 1-0.

February 19, 1987

-Women's basketball standout Tammy McCarthy becomes the first player in the history of the state of Maryland to score 2,000 career points.

January 1989

-The men's basketball teams wins the inaugural Baltimore Beltway Tournament at Loyola College with a 87-81 win over Towson State.

1990's

February 17, 1990

-Larry Simmons breaks the school's all-time men's basketball record with his 1,729^th point. He would finish with 1,805 career points.

February 15, 1992

-Derell Thompson sets a school record by scoring 43 points in a 113-103 loss in men's basketball at Towson.

March 21, 1992

-Jason Smith scores a school-record 10 goals in a 20-6 win over Colgate in men's lacrosse.

April 25, 1992

-Steve Marohl breaks the USILA single-season assist mark with his 74^th in a game vs. Towson State. He finishes the year with 77 assists.

May 24, 1992

-Baseball plays in its first NCAA Division I regional, falling to top-ranked Miami, 3-1, despite 11 strikeouts by Retriever Craig Grasser. UMBC received an at-large bid after a 37-11 season.

October 1993

-Mike Meyer wins the ECAC Golf Championship, shooting 75-73-148, winning with a birdie on the third playoff hole.

November 1994

-Volleyball standout Kelly O'Brien is named Big South Player of the Year for the second consecutive season and finishes 12^th in NCAA Division I history in total kills.

March 1995

-UMBC hosts NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament (First/Second Rounds) at the Baltimore Arena.

November 1995

-Trailing 13-10 in the fifth and deciding game, the Retriever volleyball team rallies to win, 15-13, over UNC Greensboro and capture the Big South title.

May 2, 1996

-Kathy Zerrlaut coaches the final game of her 24-year UMBC career in both volleyball and lacrosse.

August 1996

-Jay Witasick debuts with the Oakland Athletics and becomes the first Retriever to play in the major leagues. Witasick has enjoyed a 10-year major league career, including World Series appearances in 2001 (Yankees) and 2002 Giants)

October 1996

-Track and field complex and new turf installed at UMBC Stadium.

April 1997

-David Bobb earns his third, fourth and fifth All American awards in track and field. He finishes second in the 100 meters at the outdoor track and field championships and is the fastest American-born sprinter in the collegiate ranks that year.

March 1998

-The men's swimming and diving team wins the ECAC Championship

May 1998

-The men's lacrosse team defeats #1-ranked Maryland, 12-8 at UMBC Stadium and earns its first bid to the NCAA Division I Championships.

-UMBC hosts the NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championships and draws record crowds.

September 1998

-UMBC begins play in the Northeast Conference. A month later, NEC newcomer UMBC bested defending champion and #1 seeded Central Connecticut State 5-4, in the finale of the Northeast Conference Women's Tennis Championships

February 1999 

-The men's basketball team defeats St. Francis (NY), 81-66, before 3,084 rowdy fans at the RAC Arena and wins the Northeast Conference regular season title. It was UMBC's first Division I basketball title as the Retrievers won a league record 15 games to start the league season.

May 1999

-UMBC wins the Commissioner's Cup in its first year of competition in the Northeast Conference. Tennis standout Oscar Lopez becomes UMBC's first-ever First Team Academic All American, giving UMBC a record five Academic All Americans in the same academic year.

September 1999

-The Retriever Activities Center is added to the existing complex, doubling the indoor space of UMBC's facility.

November 1999

-P.J. Wakefield scores just moments after entering the game as the men's soccer team defeats Mt. St. Mary's, 2-1, to capture the Northeast Conference title in front of 1,650 fans at the brand-new UMBC Soccer Stadium. UMBC is pitted against top-seeded Duke in the NCAA Tournament and grabs a 3-1 lead before falling, 4-3, in overtime. That is UMBC's lone loss of the season as the Retrievers finish with the nation's best winning percentage at 19-1-2.

2000's

March 2002 

-The men's basketball team wins 20 games in a season for the first time in UMBC's Division I history. Earlier in the year, they repeated as Battle of Baltimore champions and would end up victorious in the final four years (2000-03) of the tournament.

-Cleopatra Borel becomes UMBC's first Division I national champion as she wins the indoor shot put at the NCAA Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

May 2002

-The women's lacrosse team makes its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

March 2003

-The women's basketball team advances to its first ever conference championship game in school history.

April 2003

-UMBC Athletics joins the America East Conference.

May 2003        

-The women's tennis team advances to its fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament.

June 2003

-Undersized Huguens Jean becomes an All American in track and field, finishing fourth in the nation in the high jump with a leap of 7'3".

March 2004

-The men's swimming and diving teams wins UMBC's first America East championship, earning its seventh straight league title.

August 2004

-Cleopatra Borel competes in the Athens Olympics, finishing tenth in the world in the shot put.

April 2005

-New, lighted tennis court facility unveiled at UMBC. This is the last piece to UMBC's latest facility upgrade, which included a new turf field at UMBC Stadium, new basketball locker rooms, a sports medicine complex, an academic center and a media center. 

May 2005

-Adam Grossman wins both the 100 and 200 meter dashes at the America East Championships and is named the league's Scholar Athlete in both indoor and outdoor track and field for the second consecutive year.

November 2005 

-The men's cross country team wins its first-ever America East title, moving from fifth place the previous year to first in its third year of league competition. The Retrievers edged the field on the course at Binghamton University and the victory came nearly 30 years to the day that UMBC had won the Mason-Dixon Cross Country title in 1975.

May 2006

-The men's lacrosse program wins its first America East championship, blowing out Albany, 19-10, on the turf at UMBC Stadium. Senior Brendan Mundorf, who would go on to star professionally and on the international stage is part of that championship team. 

March 2007

-The women's basketball team records an America East first – as the seventh seed, UMBC defeats Nos. 2, 3 and 1 to win its first NCAA Division I conference title at Binghamton University. The Retrievers compete in their first-ever NCAA Tournament and play at UConn, the pre-eminent program in women's college basketball.

May 2007

-The men's lacrosse squad earns an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and defeats host Maryland in the first round to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time.  

March 2008

-The men's basketball team wins a school Division I –record 24 games, which is capped by a transcendent day at the RAC Arena. Before a packed, black-and-gold filled gym and a national television audience, the top-seeded Retrievers defeat Hartford, 82-65, to capture the America East title and earn a bid to "The Big Dance." UMBC draws Georgetown in Raleigh, N.C., and draws plenty of support from fans, alumni and the locals. 

May 2009

-Men's lacrosse repeats as America East Champions with a convincing 11-7 victory over Stony Brook at UMBC Stadium. In the NCAA's, the Retrievers battle UNC in sweltering conditions in Chapel Hill and suffer a heart-breaking 15-13 setback.

2010's

November 2010

-The men's soccer team wins its first America East title by advancing past UNH in penalty kicks before a frenzied Retriever Soccer Park crowd. UMBC defeats No. 10 Princeton, 2-1, in the NCAA First Round and is a heartbeat from reaching the round of 16, but falls in penalties at William & Mary.

November 2012

-Pete Caringi's squad followed a similar script from two years earlier, finishing the regular season strong and taking the America East title with a home field penalty kick shoot-out victory over New Hampshire. Once again, UMBC moves to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, advancing past host Old Dominion in penalties, but the Retrievers cannot do the same at defending national champion North Carolina. UMBC does not allow a goal in four postseason games.   

March 2013 

-Junior swimmer Mohammed Hussein becomes the first male UMBC swimmer to compete at the NCAA Championships. In UMBC's final year in America East competition, Hussein and his teammates won their ninth league title in ten years.

May 2013

-Sophomore sprinter Mercedes Jackson caps a fantastic year by earning a spot in the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. She competed in the indoor championships a few months earlier and was America East's Most Outstanding Track Athlete in both the indoor and outdoor championship meets.

June 30, 2013

-Dr. Charles Brown, who led the department as Director of Athletics for 23 years, retires.

November 2013

-The men's cross country team kicked off a "November to Remember" by winning its second America East title. Ironically, both titles have occurred on the same course at Binghamton University. The Retrievers would go on to place ninth, their first-ever top ten finish at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic regionals.

-In one of the most remarkable stories in UMBC Athletics' history, the women's soccer team completed a worst-to-first journey and won the America East championship, defeating Stony Brook, 2-1, at Retriever Soccer Park. Leslie Wray's forces, which had combined to win only one contest in the previous two seasons combined, shared the regular season league title with Stony Brook, and defeated Hartford in the semifinals at RSP before celebrating the program's first-ever conference on the home turf. UMBC went on to compete in its first NCAA Tournament and competed well, despite a 2-0 loss at national power Virginia Tech.  

-In a season to rival its 1999 campaign, for the second time in its history, the men's soccer team leads the nation in winning percentage (16-1-3). UMBC enters the top ten in all collegiate soccer polls and demolishes Hartford, 4-0, to win its third America East title in four years. For the first time in school history, a program hosts and competes in an NCAA Tournament game, as UMBC welcomes national power UConn on a frigid late November evening. UMBC rallies twice to send the game to overtime at 2-2, but the Huskies prevail in penalties to advance.

March 2014

-Freshman Emily Escobedo becomes UMBC's first female swimmer in since 2002 to earn a spot in the NCAA Championships.

November 15, 20, 23, 30, December 5, 12, 2015 

-UMBC men's soccer easily authors the deepest run by a Retriever program in an NCAA Tournament. It starts with a 2-1 win over Hartford in the America East title game (Nov. 15). Then, Pete Caringi, Jr.'s squad does not allow a goal in advancing past hosts Wake Forest (0-0, Nov. 20), Maryland (1-0, Nov. 23), Louisville (1-0, Dec. 30) and Creighton (0-0, Dec. 12) to reach the College Cup (national semi-finals). The upstart Retrievers outplay eventual national champion Virginia, but fall, 1-0.

October 31, 2015

-Hassan Omar becomes the first Retriever to earn individual gold at the America East Cross Country Championships, capturing the title at Stony Brook. Two weeks later, he becomes the first UMBC cross country athlete to compete at the NCAA Division I national championships.

March 18, 2017

-Escobedo concluded her historic career as a Retriever with a bronze medal in the 200 breaststroke at the 2017 NCAA Championships. She earned her second All-American accolade.

May 28, 2017

-The Retriever baseball team nips Maine, 2-1, to win its first-ever America East title and head to the NCAA's for the first time since 2001.

June 30, 2017

-Director of Sports Medicine Cindy Kubiet has announced her retirement. The UMBC Hall of Famer served as the athletic department's head athletic trainer/director of sports medicine since 1979.

January 31, 2018

-The women's basketball team plays the final intercollegiate basketball game at the RAC Arena (formerly UMBC Fieldhouse), falling to Stony Brook, 69-44.

February 3, 2018

-The men's basketball team opens up the UMBC Event Center before a sold-out crowd of 4,753. Vermont defeats the Retrievers, 81-53.

March 10, 2018

-Jairus Lyles knocks down a buzzer-beating trey as the men's basketball team stuns top-seeded and host Vermont, 65-62, to win the America East Tournament. Vermont entered the game with 23 consecutive victories versus the Retrievers.

March 16, 2018

-The UMBC Retrievers (25-10) became the first No. 16 seed in the history of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship to defeat a No. 1 seed as they defeated top-ranked University of Virginia (31-3), 74-54, before 17,943 mostly-exuberant fans in a South Region First Round game played at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C.

April 6, 2018

-In the midst of an injury-plagued season, the UMBC men's lacrosse team knocks off top-ranked UAlbany, 11-7. The Great Danes had been ranked No. 1 for six consecutive weeks.

February 17, 2019

-For the first time since 2010-11, both of UMBC's swimming and diving squads capture conference titles.

March 11, 2019

-Graduate student forward Joe Sherburne was named the 2018-19 Men's Basketball Academic All-America Team Member of the Year as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

May 4, 2019

-The fourth-seeded men's lacrosse team rallies to defeat Vermont, 14-13, to win its first America East title since 2009. Starting the season at 1-6, UMBC won four consecutive elimination games away from home to eventually advance to the NCAA Round of 16.

May 11, 2019

-The softball team, picked to finish last in America East, defeats Stony Brook, 4-0, to complete a four-game sweep of the league championships and earn their first league title and NCAA Tournament appearance since 2002. Freshman pitcher Courtney Coppersmith earns tournament MVP honors, winning all four games on the mound.

2020's
 

February 16, 2020

-Swimmer Ilia Rattsev wins the 50, 100, and 200 freestyle events for the third consecutive season at the America East Championships, lead the men to their third straight league title.

January 2020

-Brian Barrio takes the reins as UMBC's fifth Director of Athletics 

March 12, 2020

-The baseball team defeats Coppin State, 4-2, in the last intercollegiate game played by the Retrievers in the 2019-20 season. All spring seasons are cancelled due to the CoVID-19 pandemic.

Feb. 21, 2021
 
After 344 days without athletic competition, UMBC Athletics returns and the volleyball team defeats Coppin State, 3-0.
 
Feb. 23, 2021
 
Head Soccer Coach Pete Caringi, Jr. wins career game No. 300 as freshman Taylor Calheira scores his first career goal in a 1-0 overtime win over GW on the turf of UMBC Stadium.
 
April 2, 2021
 
They wore masks. They didn't change ends of the court. They played for the first time all "season" in front of fans, but nearly all of those rowdy fans hooted and hollered for the host UAlbany Great Danes. And they fell behind two sets to one and 10-7 in the deciding fifth set. But the Retriever volleyball squad rallied to defeat the Great Danes, 3-2, and win their first-ever America East Championships in a surreal spring season. UMBC would face Pepperdine in their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1998.
 
May 15, 2021
 
For the first time in seven years, a UMBC squad captured a conference title on its home field. The Retriever softball team hosted the America East Championships and the top-seeded squad won all three games, including a dramatic 1-0 clincher over Stony Brook.
 
Note: Both the men's basketball and men's lacrosse teams earned shares of America East regular season titles in the 2021 spring semester.
 
Nov. 20, 2021
 
Twenty-four hours after erasing a 2-1 deficit to defeat Stony Brook, 3-2, in the America East semi-finals, the Retriever volleyball team came back from two sets down to defeat UAlbany, 3-2, and capture their second consecutive America East title. And this time, the triumph occurred on the hardwood of "The Peake", marking the athletic program's first title celebration on its new digs.
 
Nov. 27, 2021
 
The men's basketball team knocks off another ACC opponent, defeating host Pitt, 87-77.
 
Feb. 13, 2022
 
The men's swimming and diving team recaptured the America East title, marking 13 victories in 15 tries for the league crown. Niklas Weigelt earned the meet's Outstanding Swimmer Award for the second consecutive season.
 
Feb. 26, 2022
 
Catilyn Bobb was named Most Outstanding Female Track Performer, Most Outstanding Rookie, and won the Coaches' Award for most points scored, while junior Jasmine Holland was named Most Outstanding Field Performer at the America East Indoor Championships. Bobb earned a pair of gold medals in the 200m and 400m, while Holland captured the triple and long jump events.
 
May 14, 2022
 
They played 21 innings and did not allow an opposing runner to cross the plate. The Retriever softball team won its third consecutive America East title in its third different location, sweeping past host Binghamton and UAlbany twice to earn a trip to Duke for the NCAA Championships.
 
June 9, 2022
 
Caitlyn Bobb capped off her historic rookie season with a 17th place finish at the NCAA Championships. Bobb reset her own school record in the 400m with a sub-52 second run in the semifinals.
 
Oct. 22, 2022
 
The UMBC men's soccer team scores twice in the final 7:30 to knock off No. 10 Vermont, 2-1. The win halted the nation's longest winning streak and 24 unanswered goals by the Catamounts.
 
Nov. 20, 2022
 
Under first-year head coach Casey Krider, the volleyball team defeated UNH, 3-0, in Vestal, N.Y., to claim the program's third consecutive America East title.
 
Feb. 25, 2023
 
The men's swimming and diving team held off hard-charging Binghamton to win its 14th America East crown in 16 attempts. Sophomore Oliver Gassmann earned Swimmer of the Meet honors.
 
March 1, 2023
 
The women's basketball team won its first ever America East Conference playoff game on its home court, defeating NJIT, 82-71 in the league quarterfinals.
 
April 29, 2023
 
It was the definition of bittersweet. The women's lacrosse team rallied from a 10-5 deficit to defeat host UNH, 17-15, but fell a goal short of advancing to the America East Championships via a tie-breaker. Seniors Megan Halczuk and Claire Bockstie closed out brilliant careers, finishing first and second respectively on UMBC's career charts with 348 draw controls and 163 goals scored.
 
May 7, 2023

The men's track and field team produced a memorable Sunday at the America East Championships. The sixth-best qualifier, freshman Liam Meginniss captured the 800m in come-from-behind fashion. Another freshman, Iosif Papa capped his phenomenal campaign as a champion, placing first in the discus throw with a 53.15m. Papa and classmate Gabriel Koletsi (javelin) would go on to compete in NCAA East Regional competition.