Men's Lacrosse 2/18/2021 12:00:00 AM

Men's Lacrosse Set to Open 2021 Campaign at St. Joseph's

The UMBC Retrievers open their 2021 campaign when they travel to Philadelphia and taken on the St. Joseph's Hawks (0-1) on Saturday, Feb. 20. The opening face-off is slated at noon at Sweeney Field. The game will be broadcast on NEC Front Row and Live Stats will also be available.

Keep up to date with the men's lacrosse team at umbcretrievers.com and on the team's social media accounts on Twitter (@UMBC_MLax) and Instagram (@umbc_mlax).

2021 Season Preview

The Retrievers enter the 2021 on a four-game winning streak, dating back to the abbreviated season of 2020. After losing the opener to nationally-ranked Georgetown, UMBC reeled off four consecutive victories over Mount St. Mary's, Sacred Heart, Towson and High Point. The Retrievers were preparing for their America East opener at Vermont when the season was cancelled due to COVID-19.

The Retrievers finished the abbreviated 2020 season ranked in the top ten in the following categories:

2nd - Man-Down Defense (90.0 percent)
6th - Scoring Defense (8.4 gaa)
7th - Clearing Percentage (90.0 percent)
9th - Turnovers Per Game (14.2)

Returning players/starters returning – Thirty of 37 players on last year's roster return for the 2021 campaign, including fifth-year seniors Ryan Frawley, Brett McIntyre and Colin Kasner. McIntyre and Kasner have earned their undergraduate degrees in mechanical engineering and business technology administration respectively. Thirteen newcomers, including a dozen freshman, dot the 2021 roster.
The Retriever squad selected seniors Ryan Frawley (Mountain Lakes, N.J.) and Nick Griffin (Marriottsville, Md./Liberty) and junior Keith Dukes (Bowie, Md./DeMatha) as team captains for the 2021 campaign. Frawley and Griffin were tabbed to reprise their roles as captains from the 2020 season, while Dukes is a first-year honoree.
UMBC attackmen Brett McIntyre (Calgary, Alberta, Can.) and Trevor Patschorke (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) earned 2020 America East Conference Men's Lacrosse All-Academic Team honors, A 33-goal scorer in the championship season of 2019, McIntyre posted the highest grade-point average (3.86) of any Retriever male student-athlete in UMBC's College of Engineering and Information Technology. A political science major, Patschorke earned the 2019 America East Tournament MVP and has 80 career points in only 25 contests.
Versatile senior Colin Kasner (Crofton, Md./DeMatha) needs one more caused turnover to move into sole possession of 5th place on UMBC's all-time list. He's averaged 2.15 CT/game in 20 career games for the Retrievers
Frawley enters opening weekend ranked No. 27 in the nation with points in 27 consecutive games. In his final outing of 2020, Frawley scored six goals versus High Point and became the 35th player in school history to reach the 100-point plateau (85-17-102). He is tied for 33rd place on the school's all-time scoring list.
Junior goalkeeper Tommy Lingner (Fort Salonga, N.Y./St. Anthony's) has been selected to the 2021 USILA / Warrior and New Balance Preseason All-American Division I Team. An Honorable Mention selection, Lingner posted a save percentage of 59.6 and a goals-against average of 8.4 in 2020. He needs 35 saves to move into UMBC's all-time top ten.
SB Nation's College Crosse named Retriever freshmen Tony Diallo (Suitland, Md./St. Andrew's Episcopal) and Alex Poma (Marietta, Ga.) to its 2020 All-Freshmen Honorable Mention team. Diallo started all five games for UMBC and finished the abbreviated season with eight ground balls and six caused turnovers. Poma completed the 2020 campaign ranked as the No. 24 face-off specialist in the nation. He won 58.8 percent of his draws taken, including a spectacular 49 of 71 (69.0 percent) in his final three games.
UMBC is still the reigning America East Championships, having captured the league title in improbable fashion in 2019. The Retrievers were 3-8, including three overtime losses, before winning the first of four non-home elimination games in the regular season finale at Hartford. The fourth-seeded Retrievers upended host and top-seeded Stony Brook, 14-8, in the semis, then rallied from a four-goal third quarter deficit to edge Vermont, 14-13, in the championship game. UMBC went on the road and defeated Marist, 14-8, in the NCAA First Round game, before falling at No. 1 Penn State in the Round of 16.
In a tight race with just nine points separating the top four teams, Stony Brook was tabbed the 2021 America East men's lacrosse preseason favorite by the league's preseason coaches.
Stony Brook, winner of the 2019 #AEMLAX regular-season title, four of a possible seven first-place votes and 44 points. UAlbany finished just one point behind, earning two first-place tallies and 43 points. UMBC, the 2019 #AEMLAX champion, received the final two first-place votes and 38 points.

Dawg Bytes

UMBC has received three Votes in USILA polls of Feb. 8 and 15.
The Retrievers will be facing the Hawks for the first time on Saturday. It's the program's first trip to Philadelphia since a 10-8 loss at Penn in 2015.
St. Joseph's lost a heart-breaking 8-7 overtime decision at Towson to open their campaign on Feb. 13. Highly-decorated junior face-off specialist Zach Cole won 13-of-18 draws and collected 11 ground balls in the narrow setback.
The Retrievers have started the season at 1-0 just once (2018) since 2012.
Head Coach Ryan Moran enters his fifth campaign at UMBC with a career record of 22-26. He is just the third UMBC mentor in 51 years of USILA (1971) competition. He led the Retrievers to America East Tournament berths in two of his first three campaigns, including a league title in 2019. Moran is assisted by Joe Bucci and Craig Chick.
UMBC is set to open their five-game home schedule versus Mount St. Mary's on Saturday, Feb. 27. The 2021 slate features nine America East Conference games throughout the months of March and April. UMBC will play home-and-away series with league foes Stony Brook and Binghamton and face the other five schools one time each.