BALTIMORE – The UMBC men's lacrosse team opened the America East Conference season with a 10-7 victory against the Vermont Catamounts on Saturday morning at UMBC Stadium.
UMBC (3-2, 1-0 AE) senior attackman Jordan Galloway recorded three goals and two assists, and junior midfielder Nick Gutierrez handed out a game and career-high four assists to pace the offense. Junior attackman Connor Chick and freshman midfielder Xander Maxwell hit the back of the net twice. Junior Connor McMahon was terrific in goal and made nine saves. Dante Marinello was sensational on the defensive end as the junior caused a career-high five turnovers and added three ground balls. Freshman midfielder Jameson Coffman picked up a team-high five ground balls off the bench.
The Retrievers forced 21 turnovers and forced the visitors to convert just 12-20 clears. UMBC outshot the Catamounts by a 44-36 total despite winning just five face-offs in the contest.
UMBC led from start to finish, taking a 4-0 advantage after the opening quarter. Galloway scored a pair of goals and added an assist in the frame.
Vermont inched within 8-6 with 12:43 remaining in the fourth quarter, but Maxwell scored an unassisted goal just a minute and a half later, and sophomore attackman Ryan Demato put the game away late at the 2:02 mark.
Luke Reiter scored three goals, and Cullen Decker added two to pace the visitors, who fell to 2-4 (0-1 AE). Henry Dodge won 15-of-19 face-offs and came up with 11 ground balls. Ryan Daly made 13 saves.
UMBC, who broke a five-game losing skid against Vermont, travels to UAlbany next Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
