BALTIMORE – UMBC outscored pesky Mercer, 8-2, in the second half and defeated the Bears, 13-8, in cold, blustery conditions at UMBC Stadium on Saturday, March 11.
Graduate student attackman
Brett Baucia (Crofton, Md./Archbishop Spalding) scored four of his career high five goals in the final 26 minutes.
Playing for the fourth time in 11 days, UMBC improved to 5-1 on the campaign, while Mercer fell to 1-6.
The 5-1 start ties the best six-game mark in the Retrievers' Division I history (1981) with the 1992 squad.
Mercer led, 6-5, at halftime, but Baucia drew the Retrievers even just 3:52 into the half. Sophomore midfielder
Josh Tang would give the Retrievers the lead for good, converting a
Brian Tregoning pass and rocketing a shot past Bear goalkeeper Colin Kelley with 6:24 remaining in the period.
Junior attackman
Mateo Brown completed the three-goal run with an unassisted tally with 3:13 remaining.
The Bears would score two out of the next three goals and climbed within 9-8 on a goal by Khory Reid with 10:18 remaining in regulation. But
UMBC sophomore
Jordan Galloway started the game-ending 4-0 run by beating Kelley with a bounce shot from the left side just inside the far post with 7:49 to play.
Baucia netted goals with 3:27 and 1:26 remaining and junior face-off specialist
Dane Armstrong put the exclamation point on the victory with a face-off win and goal seven seconds after Baucia's fifth score.
Making his season debut, Tregoning, the team's leading scorer from 2022, scored a goal and added three assists. Junior attackman
Allen Hockenberry also contributed a trio of assists, while Brown and Galloway each tallied twice.
The UMBC defense continued to shine, causing 11 of Mercer's 23 turnovers. Junior defenseman
Ben Stephanos recorded four, while junior goalkeeper
Jayson Tingue was credited with 10 saves.
Mercer got out to a 3-0 lead just 3:56 into the game, but UMBC went on a 4-0 run to end the first quarter an lead, 4-3, after 15 minutes. Mercer outscored UMBC, 3-1, in the second quarter to lead, 6-5, at intermission.
The Retrievers open America East competition at Bryant on Saturday, March 18.
