BALTIMORE - UMBC men's lacrosse opens up the 2026 season on Friday evening at 5 p.m. at home versus Drexel. The Retrievers put together a 7-5 season in 2025, going 5-1 in the America East before falling to UAlbany in the America East Championships. Drexel comes into the contest 1-0 after a season-opening win over Delaware last Friday.
Friday will feature the 11th all-time meeting between the Retrievers and Drexel, and the fifth straight season with a meeting between the two schools. UMBC leads the all-time series 8-2, winning three of the last four meetings. The series began back in 1991 with a 15-9 victory for the Retrievers. UMBC won last year's meeting 9-6 on February 15, 2025, as the Retrievers got multi-goal games from Corey Myers, Nick Gutierrez, and Connor Chick. Xander Maxwell dished out two assists in the win, while Connor McMahon made 10 saves to earn the win.
LAST TIME OUT
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Drexel opened the season with an 11-1 victory over Delaware, as the Dragons held the Blue Hens scoreless for more than 53 minutes. Alec Tulio scored three goals and handed out an assist, while Owen Knight also contributed a hat trick to the cause offensively. Conor Hooley handed out two assists in the win. Brendan Donnelly was stellar in net, making 14 saves and allowing just one goal in the win, while Trent Layton kept the ball in possession for Drexel, winning 11-of-14 face-offs.
SCOUTING THE DRAGONS
- Five Dragons scored goals in the opening game of the season with Caden Zadell (2), Witt Crawford (2), and Layton (1) joining Tulio and Knight. Along with Hooley's two assists, Tulio, Layton, Liam Luzza, and Gavin Kelly dished out assists.
- The Dragons caused five turnovers in the season-opening victory, with Crawford, Connor McVicker, Kai Todd, Liam Kammer, and Donnelly each causing a turnover. Hooley, Teddy Luthy, Pat Lyman, and Donnelly each recorded two ground balls.
- Drexel will operate in 2026 without Max Semple, who finishes third all-time in career goals with 129. Crawford (31 g, 18 a) is the team's leading returning scorer with Hooley (26 g, 20 a) not far behind.
- Layton replaces Aidan Shortley, the program's main face-off man in 2025. Shortley won 157 face-offs in 2025 and 178 face-offs for his career.
- Lyman (43 ground balls, 14 caused turnovers) and Kammar (34 ground balls, 13 caused turnovers) return for the Dragons defensively, as well as Kevin O'Brien (33 ground balls, team-high 15 caused turnovers).
- Off to a great start this season, Donnelly started eight games last season, winning four games and making 109 saves.
SCOUTING THE DAWGS
- UMBC's top leading scorer in 2025, Jordan Galloway (20 goals, 16 assists), is gone, but the next four leading goal scorers all return in Chick, Myers, Maxwell, and Ryan Demato, who all scored between 10 and 19 goals in 2025. Gutierrez is also back after finishing fifth on the team in points a year ago. Chick (19 g, 3 a) is the top returning scorer for UMBC. Maxwell (19 points) and Myers (18 points) are the next highest Retrievers in terms of returning point totals.
- Alex Steers returns at the face-off X for UMBC, winning 130 face-offs and leading the team with 54 ground balls last year.
- Dante Marinello, a 2026 America East Preseason All-Conference selection, returns to lead the UMBC defense. Marinello caused 16 turnovers and picked up 22 ground balls. Marinello was named to the All-America East Second Team in 2025. He is joined by veterans Casey Pung and Dylan Hendrix, giving the Retrievers an experienced group defensively. Pung started 10 games and caused 10 turnovers last year with Hendrix starting 10 games and causing six.
- LSM Dylan Sharpe was second on the team a year ago in caused turnovers (15) and ground balls (29) while adding a goal and an assist.
- Joining Marinello and Sharpe in leadership roles are Gutierrez, voted a unanimous captain, and Jameson Coffman, one of a small number of sophomore captains in program history. Coffman played in 10 games as a freshman, developing a bigger role as a short-stick defensive midfielder throughout the season.
- Another Preseason All-America East selection, McMahon won six games last season, making 90 saves and posting a 9.91 GAA to earn America East Goalkeeper of the Year honors.
ROSTER BREAKDOWN
- RETURNERS - #0 Noah Hall, #1 Corey Myers, #2 Zack Johnson, #3 Mike Dunleavy, #5 Justin Webber, #6 Ryan Demato, #8 Cam Dick, #9 Braden Smith, #10 Nick Gutierrez, #11 Conner Layden, #12 Casey Pung, #13 Connor Chick, #14 Gavin Batelka, #15 Keegan Ryan, #17 Alec Howard, #18 Logan Earl, #20 Dante Marinello, #21 Connor McMahon, #22 Kevin Bredeck, #23 Dylan Sharpe, #24 Zach Coyle, #28 Ayden Davis, #30 Billy Stephens, #31 Griffen McNeir, #33 Dylan Hendrix, #36 Josh Schrader, #38 Landon Greenberg, #39 Alex Steers, #40 Nathan Ward, #43 Xander Maxwell, #44 Logan Duffy, #55 Jameson Coffman
- TRANSFERS - #50 Jake Kucinski, #53 Ethan Wiech
- FRESHMEN - #4 Grant Mauldin, #16 Thomas Keating, #19 Todd Freeman, #25 Paulo Vazquez, #26 Elliott McClendon, #27 Caiden Merritt, #34 Drew Lapointe, #45 Jack Fish, #49 Than Souza
2025 IN REWIND
- UMBC opened up the season with victories over Drexel and Mount St. Mary's, beginning the year 2-0 for the second time in three seasons. The Retrievers dropped games to Towson and #13 Richmond before opening up America East play on March 15.
- The Retrievers opened up league play with victories over Vermont and UAlbany, taking wins by final scores of 10-7 and 13-12 in overtime. UMBC fell at Bryant, 12-7, its lone America East regular season loss.
- The Dawgs bonced back with wins over UMass Lowell and Binghamton at home before winning 19-11 at NJIT. UMBC finished off the regular season with a neutral site loss to Holy Cross before heading to Smithfield, Rhode Island for the America East Championships. UMBC fell 9-7 in a rematch of the regular season thriller with UAlbany. The Retrievers led 6-3 in the second, but UAlbany scored six of the final seven goals to come away victorious.
AMERICA EAST PRESEASON POLL
1. UAlbany - 40 (6)
2. Bryant - 29 (1)
3. Vermont - 24
4. UMBC - 21
5. Binghamton - 18
6. UMass Lowell - 8
7. NJIT - 7
WHAT'S NEXT
