BALTIMORE – The UMBC men's lacrosse team opens the 2024 schedule on Friday evening, Feb. 16 when they host the Drexel Dragons. The open face-off takes place at 5:00 p.m. and the contest will be streamed on AE.tv with Gary Stein on the call.
 
2024 UMBC Men's Lacrosse Pre-Season Notes

• UMBC returns 33 letterwinners and seven starters from the 8-win (8-5) 2023 squad. They have added 12 freshman and four transfers for the 2024 campaign.

 

• The Retrievers got off a 5-1 start in 2023, which tied the best six-game mark in the Retrievers' Division I history (1981) with the 1992 squad. But the Retrievers would rotate losses and wins the rest of the way to finish at 8-5.

 

• The America East Conference named UMBC senior defenseman Ethan Robinson to the league's All Conference First Team. Senior A/M Mateo Brown landed on the America East Second Team. Senior attackman Brian Tregoning earned a spot on the conference's All-Academic Team.

 

• Brown led the Retrievers in points (39) and goals (34) in his junior campaign after scoring just one goal in four games in 2022. His 34 goals scored tied him with three other players for 22nd on UMBC's single-season list and he finished third in the America East Conference for goals per game (2.62) and 27th nationally.

 

• Senior goalkeeper Jayson Tingue finished third nationally with a 9.39 goals against average. He earned America East Defensive Player of the Week honors on March 6, 2023, after a 2-0 week where he allowed eight goals and made 16 stops.  

 

• The Retrievers finished the campaign ranked fifth nationally in scoring defense, allowing 9.62 goals per game. In 2022, UMBC completed the campaign ninth nationally in scoring defense, allowing 10.08 goals per game.  UMBC led the nation in 2018, allowing only 7.77 goals per game. In Head Coach Ryan Moran's 44 contests versus America East competition, UMBC has allowed single digit goals on 24 occasions.

 

Year	Goals Allowed Per Game	National Rank
2018	7	1
2022	10	9
2023	9	5

• UMBC won all eight games when leading at halftime in 2023 and dropped all five when trailing at the break. Only two of 13 games were decided by three goals or less and the Retrievers split those in a span of eight days, falling to Binghamton, 16-13 and defeating NJIT, 12-10.

 

• The UMBC men's lacrosse program has selected seniors Mike Doughty, Kyle Hoff and Brian Tregoning as its team captains for the 2024 spring campaign. Hoff and Tregoning will reprise their captain's roles from a season ago, while Doughty makes his debut as one of the team's leaders.

 

• The 2024 schedule features 10 of 11 opponents from the 2023 season and the resumption of the series with the University of Richmond. The Retrievers open the season on Friday, Feb. 16 when they host the Drexel Dragons at 5:00 p.m. They will remain in-state for the next two Saturdays, visiting Mount St. Mary's on Feb. 24 and Towson on March 2. UMBC wraps up the non-conference slate on Friday, March 8 when Richmond visits UMBC Stadium for the first time since 2018. The Spiders hosted the Retrievers in 2019 and 2022. America East play begins on Saturday, March 16 when UMBC hosts the defending league champion Bryant Bulldogs at noon.
• For the first time, a package of UMBC Lacrosse home games (4 of 5) will be broadcast on the ESPN (ESPN+) platforms. The package starts on Friday, March 8 when UMBC hosts Richmond.

 

• The 2024 four-team America East Tournament will be held on Thursday and Saturday, May 2 and 4, 2024 at the highest seeded team. The winner will earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

 
THE STAFF

• Head Coach Ryan Moran enters his eighth season at the helm of the Retrievers. He earned America East Conference Coach of the Year honors in 2021 after leading the squad to a share of the regular season title. He has led the Retrievers to the league playoffs in five of the seven full years of competition. As the No. 4 seed, Moran piloted the 2019 team to an America East title and a NCAA Tournament win over Marist.  Moran is 44-41 overall and 22-17 in America East play. Craig Chick and Nick Griffin return for their third years as assistants, while Nick Kellinger joined the staff last summer.

COACH MORAN SAID IT

• "We like to pride ourselves in playing complementary lacrosse. I have been pleased with the play on both sides of the ball (in the preseason). If you play good offense, it lends itself to playing good defense."
• "It's about everyone buying in, everyone sacrificing, everyone understanding what their role is specific to the team and being passionate about that role. That's what we preach to our guys on a day-to-day basis."  
• "We take a lot of pride in trying to be as competitive and we can be and win our conference. That's your most sure way of getting into the NCAA Tournament. Our kids are very proud of where they play and the tradition of UMBC lacrosse."

A LOOK AT THE DREXEL DRAGONS
 

• Drexel posted an 8-6 overall mark and a 5-2 CAA record in 2023. They were 5-1 in games decided by two goals or less and 2-0 in overtime.
• The Dragons were picked to finish fourth (of 8 teams) in the 2024 CAA race.
• Juniors Collin Gucwa and Luke Tomak earned pre-season All-CAA honors. Gucwa, a defender, finished third on the team with 31 ground balls and second with 12 caused turnovers. Tomak scored 25 goals and added 10 assists last season.
• A season ago, UMBC outscored Drexel in each quarter and prevailed, 12-7, in Philadelphia. Mike Doughty tallied three goals before suffering a second half injury. Allen Hockenberry added a pair of scorers. Tomak led all players with four goals.

 
SERIES NOTES
 

• The Retrievers have won six of seven contests vs. Drexel and posted season-opening wins in the last two campaigns.
• Prior to 2022, the two teams had not met since 1995, when the Dragons earned their lone victory, a 12-11 decision in Philadelphia.
• UMBC has won all three meetings (1992, 1994, 2022) in Baltimore.

 
UP NEXT: 

UMBC takes on Mount St. Mary's in Emmitsburg on Saturday, Feb. 24. Game time at Waldron Stadium is set for noon.